Exodus 24
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Blood of the Covenant
24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance.(A) 2 Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
3 Moses went and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”(B) 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.(C) 5 He sent young men of the Israelites, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.(D) 7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”(E) 8 Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “Here is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”(F)
On the Mountain with God
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,(G) 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.(H) 11 God[a] did not lay his hand on the chief men of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank.
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there; I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up onto the mountain of God. 14 To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come back to you. Look, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.(I) 16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.(J) 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites.(K) 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.(L)
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- 24.11 Heb He
Colossians 2:8-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
8 Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles[a] of the world, and not according to Christ.(A) 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.(B) 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision,[b] by the removal of the body[c] of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;(C) 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.(D) 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God[d] made you[e] alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,(E) 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed[f] the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.(F)
16 Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or[g] drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths.(G) 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions,[h] puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,[i] 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with a growth that is from God.(H)
Warnings against False Teachers
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental principles[j] of the world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations,(I) 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings.(J) 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.[k]
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- 2.8 Or spirits
- 2.11 Gk a circumcision made without hands
- 2.11 Other ancient authorities add of the sins
- 2.13 Gk he
- 2.13 Other ancient authorities read made us or made
- 2.15 Or divested himself of
- 2.16 Other ancient authorities read and
- 2.18 Meaning of Gk uncertain
- 2.18 Gk by the mind of his flesh
- 2.20 Or spirits
- 2.23 Or are of no value, serving only to indulge the flesh
Matthew 4:12-17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee
12 Now when Jesus[a] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles—(A)
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.”(B)
17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”[b](C)
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.