The Race of Faith

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, ^(A)let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and ^(B)let us run ^(C)with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the ^[a]author and ^[b]finisher of our faith, ^(D)who for the joy that was set before Him ^(E)endured the cross, despising the shame, and ^(F)has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Discipline of God^(G)

^3 (H)For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, ^(I)lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. ^4 (J)You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

^7 (M)If^[d] you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what ^(N)son is there whom a father does not chasten? ⁸ But if you are without chastening, ^(O)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to ^(P)the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, ^(Q)that we may be partakers of His holiness. ¹¹ Now no ^[e]chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields ^(R)the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Renew Your Spiritual Vitality^(S)

¹² Therefore ^(T)strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

^14 (U)Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, ^(V)without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone ^(W)fall short of the grace of God; lest any ^(X)root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any ^(Y)fornicator or ^[f]profane person like Esau, ^(Z)who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was ^(AA)rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

The Glorious Company

¹⁸ For you have not come ^[g]to ^(AB)the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and ^[h]darkness and tempest, ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it ^(AC)begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. ²⁰ (For they could not endure what was commanded: ^(AD)“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned ^[i]or shot with an arrow.” ²¹ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ^(AE)“I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³ to the ^[j]general assembly and church of ^(AF)the firstborn ^(AG)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(AH)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(AI)made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus ^(AJ)the Mediator of the new covenant, and to ^(AK)the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things ^(AL)than that of Abel.

Hear the Heavenly Voice

²⁵ See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For ^(AM)if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, ²⁶ whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ^(AN)“Yet once more I ^[k]shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” ²⁷ Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the ^(AO)removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we ^[l]may ^(AP)serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹ For ^(AQ)our God is a consuming fire.

Bread from Heaven

16 And they ^(A)journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and ^(B)Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. ² Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel ^(C)complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³ And the children of Israel said to them, ^(D)“Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ^(E)when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain ^(F)bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather ^[a]a certain quota every day, that I may ^(G)test them, whether they will ^(H)walk in My law or not. ⁵ And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and ^(I)it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”

⁶ Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, ^(J)“At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ And in the morning you shall see ^(K)the glory of the Lord; for He ^(L)hears your complaints against the Lord. But ^(M)what are we, that you complain against us?” ⁸ Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but ^(N)against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ^(O)‘Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints.’ ” ¹⁰ Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord ^(P)appeared in the cloud.

¹¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^12 (Q)“I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ^(R)‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and ^(S)in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”

¹³ So it was that ^(T)quail came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning ^(U)the dew lay all around the camp. ¹⁴ And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was ^(V)a small round ^(W)substance, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

And Moses said to them, ^(X)“This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it ^(Y)according to each one’s need, one ^(Z)omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ ”

¹⁷ Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. ¹⁸ So when they measured it by omers, ^(AA)he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. ¹⁹ And Moses said, “Let no one ^(AB)leave any of it till morning.” ²⁰ Notwithstanding they did not ^[b]heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. ²¹ So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

²² And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. ²³ Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is ^(AC)a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” ²⁴ So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not ^(AD)stink, nor were there any worms in it. ²⁵ Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. ^26 (AE)Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

²⁷ Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long ^(AF)do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? ²⁹ See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ And the house of Israel called its name ^[c]Manna. And ^(AG)it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

³² Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ” ³³ And Moses said to Aaron, ^(AH)“Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up ^(AI)before the Testimony, to be kept. ³⁵ And the children of Israel ^(AJ)ate manna ^(AK)forty years, ^(AL)until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.

Water from the Rock^(AM)

17 Then ^(AN)all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of ^(AO)Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to ^(AP)drink. ^2 (AQ)Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.”

So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you ^(AR)tempt the Lord?”

³ And the people thirsted there for water, and the people ^(AS)complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our ^(AT)livestock with thirst?”

⁴ So Moses ^(AU)cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to ^(AV)stone^[d] me!”

⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(AW)“Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which ^(AX)you struck the river, and go. ^6 (AY)Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ So he called the name of the place ^(AZ)Massah^[e] and ^[f]Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they ^[g]tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Victory over the Amalekites^(BA)

^8 (BB)Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. ⁹ And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with ^(BC)the rod of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ And so it was, when Moses ^(BD)held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands became ^[h]heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³ So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(BE)“Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that ^(BF)I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” ¹⁵ And Moses built an altar and called its name, ^[i]The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; ¹⁶ for he said, “Because ^[j]the Lord has ^(BG)sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

The Crafty Harlot