Moses Makes New Tablets

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke.^{(A) 2} Be ready in the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.^{(B) 3} No one shall come up with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain, and do not let flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”^{(C) 4} So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. ⁵ The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.”^{[a](D) 6} The Lord passed before him and proclaimed,

⁸ And Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped.^{(G) 9} He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, my Lord, I pray, let my Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”^(H)

The Covenant Renewed

¹⁰ He said, “I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been done^[c] in all the earth or in any nation, and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.^(I)

¹¹ “Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.^{(J) 12} Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you.^{(K) 13} Rather, you shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles,^{[d](L) 14} for you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.^{(M) 15} You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice,^{(N) 16} and you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods.^(O)

¹⁷ “You shall not make cast idols.^(P)

¹⁸ “You shall keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.^(Q)

¹⁹ “All that first opens the womb is mine, all your male^[e] livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep.^{(R) 20} The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.

“No one shall appear before me empty-handed.^(S)

²¹ “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest.^{(T) 22} You shall observe the Festival of Weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.^{(U) 23} Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.^{(V) 24} For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

²⁵ “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the Passover shall not be left until the morning.^(W)

²⁶ “The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.

“You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”^(X)

²⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”^{(Y) 28} He was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.^[f](Z)

The Shining Face of Moses

²⁹ Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.^{(AA) 30} When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.^{(AB) 33} When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face,^{(AC) 34} but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out, and when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,^{(AD) 35} the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining, and Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with him.

True Disciples

³¹ Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”^{(A) 33} They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”^(B)

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.^{(C) 35} The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.^{(D) 36} So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are descendants of Abraham, yet you look for an opportunity to kill me because there is no place in you for my word. ³⁸ I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.”^[a](E)

Jesus and Abraham

³⁹ They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would do^[b] what Abraham did,^{(F) 40} but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are indeed doing what your father does.” They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, God himself.”^{(G) 42} Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God, and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.^{(H) 43} Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. ⁴⁴ You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.^{(I) 45} But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.^{[c] 46} Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.”^(J)

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”^{(K) 49} Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.^{(L) 51} Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.”^{(M) 52} The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’^{(N) 53} Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?”^{(O) 54} Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’^{(P) 55} though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word.^{(Q) 56} Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.”^{(R) 57} Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”^{[d] 58} Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”^{(S) 59} So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.^(T)

Offerings for the Tabernacle

²⁰ Then all the congregation of the Israelites withdrew from the presence of Moses. ²¹ And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting and for all its service and for the sacred vestments.^{(A) 22} So they came, both men and women; all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants, all sorts of gold objects, everyone bringing an offering of gold to the Lord. ²³ And everyone who possessed blue or purple or crimson yarn or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or fine leather^[a] brought them.^{(B) 24} Everyone who could make an offering of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s offering, and everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. ²⁵ All the skillful women spun with their hands and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and fine linen;^{(C) 26} all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. ²⁷ And the leaders brought onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece^{(D) 28} and spices and oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense.^{(E) 29} All the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.^(F)

Bezalel and Oholiab

³⁰ Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;^{(G) 31} he has filled him with a divine spirit,^[b] with ability, intelligence, and knowledge, and with every kind of skill, ³² to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, ³³ in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of artistic craft. ³⁴ And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. ³⁵ He has filled them with skill to do every kind of work done by an artisan or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns and in fine linen or by a weaver—by any sort of skilled worker or designer.^(H)

36 “Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded.”^(I)

² Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given skill, everyone whose heart was stirred to come to do the work,^{(J) 3} and they received from Moses all the offerings that the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning,^{(K) 4} so that all the skilled workers who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task being performed, ⁵ and said to Moses, “The people are bringing much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.”^{(L) 6} So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, ⁷ for what they had already brought was more than enough to do all the work.

False Asceticism

4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later^[a] times some will renounce^[b] the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,^{(A) 2} through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. ³ They forbid marriage and abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.^{(B) 4} For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving,^{(C) 5} for it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

A Good Minister of Jesus Christ

⁶ If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant^[c] of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed.^{(D) 7} Have nothing to do with profane and foolish tales. Train yourself in godliness,^{(E) 8} for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.^{(F) 9} The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. ¹⁰ For to this end we toil and suffer reproach,^[d] because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.^(G)

¹¹ Command and teach these things.^{(H) 12} Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.^{(I) 13} Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture,^[e] to exhorting, to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.^{(J) 15} Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. ¹⁶ Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.^(K)