Vision of the Son of Man

⁹ I, John, your brother and ^(A)partner in ^(B)the tribulation and ^(C)the kingdom and ^(D)the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos ^(E)on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ^10 (F)I was in the Spirit ^(G)on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ^(H)like a trumpet ¹¹ saying, ^(I)“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw ^(J)seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands ^(K)one like ^(L)a son of man, ^(M)clothed with a long robe and ^(N)with a golden sash round his chest. ^14 (O)The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. ^(P)His eyes were like a flame of fire, ^15 (Q)his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and ^(R)his voice was like the roar of many waters. ^16 (S)In his right hand he held seven stars, ^(T)from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and ^(U)his face was like the sun shining ^(V)in full strength.

The Lord Is My Strength and My Shield

Of David.

Jethro's Advice

18 ^(A)Jethro, ^(B)the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ² Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, ³ along with her ^(C)two sons. The name of one was Gershom (^(D)for he said, ^(E)“I have been a sojourner^[a] in a foreign land”), ⁴ and the name of the other, Eliezer^[b] (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). ⁵ Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the ^(F)mountain of God. ⁶ And when he sent word to Moses, “I,^[c] your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” ⁷ Moses ^(G)went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and ^(H)kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. ⁸ Then Moses told his father-in-law ^(I)all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. ⁹ And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

¹⁰ Jethro said, ^(J)“Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that ^(K)the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they ^(L)dealt arrogantly with the people.”^{[d] 12} And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law ^(M)before God.

¹³ The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. ¹⁴ When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” ¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because ^(N)the people come to me to enquire of God; ^16 (O)when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I ^(P)make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” ¹⁷ Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. ^(Q)You are not able to do it alone. ¹⁹ Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall ^(R)represent the people before God and ^(S)bring their cases to God, ²⁰ and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know ^(T)the way in which they must walk and ^(U)what they must do. ²¹ Moreover, look for ^(V)able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²² And ^(W)let them judge the people at all times. ^(X)Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will ^(Y)bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this, God will direct you, you will be ^(Z)able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

²⁴ So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ^25 (AA)Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²⁶ And ^(AB)they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. ²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and ^(AC)he went away to his own country.

Israel at Mount Sinai

19 On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they ^(AD)came into the wilderness of Sinai. ² They set out from ^(AE)Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before ^(AF)the mountain, ³ while ^(AG)Moses went up to God. ^(AH)The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ^4 (AI)You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how ^(AJ)I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be ^(AK)my treasured possession among all peoples, for ^(AL)all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a ^(AM)kingdom of priests and ^(AN)a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

⁷ So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. ^8 (AO)All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you ^(AP)in a thick cloud, that ^(AQ)the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also ^(AR)believe you for ever.”

When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, ¹⁰ the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and ^(AS)consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them ^(AT)wash their garments ¹¹ and be ready for the third day. For on the third day ^(AU)the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹² And you shall set limits for the people all round, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. ^(AV)Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. ¹³ No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot;^[e] whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When ^(AW)the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” ¹⁴ So Moses ^(AX)went down from the mountain to the people and ^(AY)consecrated the people; ^(AZ)and they washed their garments. ¹⁵ And he said to the people, “Be ready for the ^(BA)third day; ^(BB)do not go near a woman.”

¹⁶ On the morning of the ^(BC)third day there were ^(BD)thunders and lightnings and ^(BE)a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud ^(BF)trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp ^(BG)trembled. ¹⁷ Then ^(BH)Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Now ^(BI)Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and ^(BJ)the whole mountain trembled greatly. ¹⁹ And as the ^(BK)sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and ^(BL)God answered him in thunder. ²⁰ The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord ^(BM)to look and many of them perish. ²² Also let the priests who come near to the Lord ^(BN)consecrate themselves, lest the Lord ^(BO)break out against them.” ²³ And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ^(BP)‘Set limits round the mountain and consecrate it.’” ²⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people ^(BQ)break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.” ²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and told them.

The Ten Commandments

20 ^(BR)And ^(BS)God spoke all these words, saying,

^2 (BT)“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

^3 (BU)“You shall have no other gods before^[f] me.

^4 (BV)“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ^5 (BW)You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am ^(BX)a jealous God, ^(BY)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands^[g] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

^7 (BZ)“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

^8 (CA)“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ^9 (CB)Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the ^(CC)seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the ^(CD)sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For ^(CE)in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

^12 (CF)“Honour your father and your mother, ^(CG)that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

^13 (CH)“You shall not murder.^[h]

^14 (CI)“You shall not commit adultery.

^15 (CJ)“You shall not steal.

^16 (CK)“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

^17 (CL)“You shall not covet ^(CM)your neighbour's house; ^(CN)you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour's.”

¹⁸ Now when all the people saw ^(CO)the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid^[i] and trembled, and they stood far off ¹⁹ and said to Moses, ^(CP)“You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ^20 (CQ)Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to ^(CR)test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” ²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the ^(CS)thick darkness where God was.

Laws About Altars

²² And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have ^(CT)talked with you from heaven. ^23 (CU)You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. ²⁴ An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. ^(CV)In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and ^(CW)bless you. ^25 (CX)If you make me an altar of stone, ^(CY)you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. ²⁶ And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

The Seventh Day, God Rests

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and ^(A)all the host of them. ² And ^(B)on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. ³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

⁵ When no ^(D)bush of the field^[a] was yet in the land^[b] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man ^(E)to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist^[c] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of ^(F)dust from the ground and ^(G)breathed into his ^(H)nostrils the breath of life, and ^(I)the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a ^(J)garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^(K)The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, ^(L)and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of ^(M)Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the ^(N)Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man ^(O)and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^(P)you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[d] of it you ^(Q)shall surely die.”

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; ^(R)I will make him a helper fit for^[e] him.” ^19 (S)Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed^[f] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and ^(T)brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[g] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a ^(U)deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[h] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

^24 (X)Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.