The Covenant Confirmed

24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^(A)Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(B)seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. ² Moses ^(C)alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

³ Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and ^(D)all the rules.^[a] And all the people answered with one voice and said, ^(E)“All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” ⁴ And ^(F)Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve ^(G)pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. ⁶ And ^(H)Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ^(I)“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” ^8 (J)And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(K)seventy of the elders of Israel ^(L)went up, ¹⁰ and they ^(M)saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of ^(N)sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. ¹¹ And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ^(O)ate and drank.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, ^(P)“Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the ^(Q)tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³ So Moses rose with his assistant ^(R)Joshua, and Moses went up ^(S)into the mountain of God. ¹⁴ And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and ^(T)Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”

¹⁵ Then Moses went up on the mountain, and ^(U)the cloud covered the mountain. ^16 (V)The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷ Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a ^(W)devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses ^(X)was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by ^(A)the lake of Gennesaret, ^2 (B)and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were ^(C)washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And ^(D)he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ^(E)“Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, ^(F)we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, ^(G)they enclosed a large number of fish, and ^(H)their nets were breaking. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. ^(I)And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ^(J)“Depart from me, for ^(K)I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”^{[a] 11} And when they had brought their boats to land, ^(L)they left everything and followed him.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

¹² While he was in one of the cities, ^(M)there came a man full of leprosy.^[b] And when he saw Jesus, he ^(N)fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, ^(O)if you will, you can make me clean.” ¹³ And Jesus^[c] stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And he charged him ^(P)to tell no one, but “go and show ^(Q)yourself to the priest, and ^(R)make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, ^(S)for a proof to them.” ^15 (T)But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. ¹⁶ But ^(U)he would withdraw to desolate places and ^(V)pray.