New Stone Tablets

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.^{(A) 2} Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop. ³ No one may go up with you; in fact, no one should be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.”^(B)

⁴ Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him.

⁵ The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” ⁶ The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:

The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,^{(C) 7} maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.^(D) But he will not leave the guilty^(E) unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

⁸ Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped. ⁹ Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your own possession.”^(F)

Covenant Obligations

¹⁰ And the Lord responded, “Look, I am making a covenant. In the presence of all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done^[a] in the whole earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the Lord’s work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring.^{(G) 11} Observe what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites,^[b] and Jebusites. ¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you.^{(H) 13} Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.^{(I) 14} Because the Lord is jealous^(J) for his reputation, you are never to bow down to another god.^[c] He is a jealous God.

¹⁵ “Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.^{(K) 16} Then you will take some of their daughters as brides for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.^(L)

¹⁷ “Do not make cast images^(M) of gods for yourselves.

¹⁸ “Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib,^[d] as I commanded you, for you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib.^(N)

¹⁹ “The firstborn^(O) male from every womb belongs to me, including all your male^[e][f] livestock, the firstborn of cattle or sheep. ²⁰ You may redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.^(P) You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

²¹ “You are to labor six days but you must rest^(Q) on the seventh day; you must even rest during plowing and harvesting times.

²² “Observe the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering^[g] at the turn of the agricultural year. ²³ Three times a year^(R) all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. ²⁴ For I will drive out nations^(S) before you and enlarge your territory.^(T) No one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.

²⁵ “Do not present^[h] the blood for my sacrifice with anything leavened. The sacrifice of the Passover Festival must not remain until morning.^(U)

²⁶ “Bring the best firstfruits^(V) of your land to the house of the Lord your God.

“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ The Lord also said to Moses, “Write^(W) down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.”

²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments,^(X) the words of the covenant, on the tablets.

Moses’s Radiant Face

²⁹ As Moses descended from Mount Sinai—with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain—he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord.^{[i](Y) 30} When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone!^(Z) They were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded,^{(AA) 35} and the Israelites would see that Moses’s face^[j] was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.

The Accusation against Paul

24 Five days later Ananias^(A) the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor.^{(B) 2} When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said, “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight. ³ We acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent^(C) Felix, with utmost gratitude. ⁴ But, so that I will not burden you any further, I request that you would be kind enough to give us a brief hearing. ⁵ For we have found this man to be a plague,^(D) an agitator^(E) among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.^{(F) 6} He even tried to desecrate the temple, and so we apprehended him.^{[a] 8} By examining him yourself you will be able to discern the truth about these charges we are bringing against him.” ⁹ The Jews also joined in the attack, alleging that these things were true.

Paul’s Defense before Felix

¹⁰ When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.^{(G) 11} You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.^{(H) 12} They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.^{(I) 13} Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me. ¹⁴ But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way,^(J) which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.^{(K) 15} I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection,^[b](L) both of the righteous and the unrighteous.^{(M) 16} I always strive to have a clear conscience^(N) toward God and men. ¹⁷ After many years, I came to bring charitable gifts and offerings to my people.^{(O) 18} While I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar.^{(P) 19} It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges, if they have anything against me. ²⁰ Or let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin, ²¹ other than this one statement I shouted while standing among them, ‘Today I am on trial before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”

The Verdict Postponed

²² Since Felix was well informed about the Way,^(Q) he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.” ²³ He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from meeting^[c] his needs.^(R)

²⁴ Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come,^(S) Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I’ll call for you.” ²⁶ At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would offer him money.^[d] So he sent for him quite often and conversed with him.

²⁷ After two years had passed, Porcius Festus^(T) succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor,^(U) he left Paul in prison.^(V)

Law and Promise

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse,^(A) because it is written,^(B) Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.^{[a](C) 11} Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live^(D) by faith.^{[b](E) 12} But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.^{[c](F) 13} Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,^(G) because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.^{[d](H) 14} The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.^(I)