24 God said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu [Aaron’s sons], and seventy of Israel’s elders, and worship at a distance.

² Moses alone shall come near the Lord; the others shall not come near, and neither shall the people come up with him.

³ Moses came and told the people all that the Lord had said and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.

⁴ Moses ^[a]wrote all the words of the Lord. He rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve pillars representing Israel’s twelve tribes.

⁵ And he sent young Israelite men, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.

⁶ And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.

⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people; and they said, All that the Lord has said we will do, and we will be obedient.

⁸ And Moses took the [remaining half of the] blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.^(A)

⁹ Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up [the mountainside].

¹⁰ And they saw the God of Israel [that is, a convincing manifestation of His presence], and under His feet it was like pavement of bright sapphire stone, like the very heavens in clearness.^(B)

¹¹ And upon the nobles of the Israelites He laid not His hand [to conceal Himself from them, to rebuke their daring, or to harm them]; but they saw [the manifestation of the presence of] God, and ate and drank.^(C)

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to Me into the mountain and be there, and I will give you tables of stone, with the law and the commandments which ^[b]I have written that you may teach them.^(D)

¹³ So Moses rose up with Joshua his attendant; and Moses went up into the mountain of God.

¹⁴ And he said to the elders, Tarry here for us until we come back to you; remember, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a cause, let him go to them.

¹⁵ Then Moses went up into the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

¹⁶ The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day [God] called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

¹⁷ And the glory of the Lord appeared to the Israelites like devouring fire on the top of the mountain.

¹⁸ Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and nights.

10 And [Jesus] left there [Capernaum] and went to the region of Judea and beyond [east of] the Jordan; and crowds [constantly] gathered around Him again, and as was His custom, He began to teach them again.

² And some Pharisees came up, and, in order to test Him and try to find a weakness in Him, asked, Is it lawful for a man to ^[a]dismiss and repudiate and divorce his wife?

³ He answered them, What did Moses command you?

⁴ They replied, Moses allowed a man to write a bill of divorce and to put her away.^(A)

⁵ But Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart [^[b]your condition of insensibility to the call of God] he wrote you this ^[c]precept in your Law.

⁶ But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.^(B)

⁷ For this reason a man shall leave [behind] his father and his mother ^[d]and be ^[e]joined to his wife and cleave closely to her permanently,

⁸ And the two shall become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.^(C)

⁹ What therefore God has united (joined together), let not man separate or divide.

¹⁰ And indoors the disciples questioned Him again about this subject.

¹¹ And He said to them, Whoever ^[f]dismisses (repudiates and divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;

¹² And if a woman dismisses (repudiates and divorces) her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

13 Let every person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities. For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God’s appointment.^(A)

² Therefore he who resists and sets himself up against the authorities resists what God has appointed and arranged [in divine order]. And those who resist will bring down judgment upon themselves [receiving the penalty due them].

³ For civil authorities are not a terror to [people of] good conduct, but to [those of] bad behavior. Would you have no dread of him who is in authority? Then do what is right and you will receive his approval and commendation.

⁴ For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, [you should dread him and] be afraid, for he does not bear and wear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant to execute His wrath (punishment, vengeance) on the wrongdoer.

⁵ Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God’s wrath and escape punishment, but also as a matter of principle and for the sake of conscience.

⁶ For this same reason you pay taxes, for [the civil authorities] are official servants under God, devoting themselves to attending to this very service.

⁷ Render to all men their dues. [Pay] taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, and honor to whom honor is due.

⁸ Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor [who practices loving others] has fulfilled the Law [relating to one’s fellowmen, meeting all its requirements].

⁹ The commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet (have an evil desire), and any other commandment, are summed up in the single command, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.^(B)

¹⁰ Love does no wrong to one’s neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law.

¹¹ Besides this you know what [a critical] hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep (rouse to reality). For salvation (final deliverance) is nearer to us now than when we first believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ, the Messiah).

¹² The night is far gone and the day is almost here. Let us then drop (fling away) the works and deeds of darkness and put on the [full] armor of light.

¹³ Let us live and conduct ourselves honorably and becomingly as in the [open light of] day, not in reveling (carousing) and drunkenness, not in immorality and debauchery (sensuality and licentiousness), not in quarreling and jealousy.

¹⁴ But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts).