The Tower of Babel

At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words.

When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. “Oh my father, what about me? Bless me, too!” he begged.

But then he fell in love with her, and he tried to win her affection with tender words.

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.

But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do.

“Next make a medallion of pure gold, and engrave it like a seal with these words: Holy to the lord.

These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.

When the people heard these stern words, they went into mourning and stopped wearing their jewelry and fine clothes.

A New Copy of the Covenant

Then the Lord told Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed.

Finally, they made the sacred medallion—the badge of holiness—of pure gold. They engraved it like a seal with these words: Holy to the lord.

So Moses went out and reported the Lord’s words to the people. He gathered the seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle.

When Moses reported the Lord’s words to all the Israelites, the people were filled with grief.

He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them.

the message of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open:

the message of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open:

Introduction to Moses’ First Address

These are the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were camped in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab on the other.

And the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the fire. You heard the sound of his words but didn’t see his form; there was only a voice.

I stood as an intermediary between you and the Lord, for you were afraid of the fire and did not want to approach the mountain. He spoke to me, and I passed his words on to you. This is what he said:

“The Lord spoke these words to all of you assembled there at the foot of the mountain. He spoke with a loud voice from the heart of the fire, surrounded by clouds and deep darkness. This was all he said at that time, and he wrote his words on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

This happened when I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the words of the covenant that the Lord had made with you. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate no food and drank no water.

The Lord gave me the two tablets on which God had written with his own finger all the words he had spoken to you from the heart of the fire when you were assembled at the mountain.

“At the end of the forty days and nights, the Lord handed me the two stone tablets inscribed with the words of the covenant.

and I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the ones you smashed. Then place the tablets in the Ark.’

Once again the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets and gave them to me. They were the same words the Lord had spoken to you from the heart of the fire on the day you were assembled at the foot of the mountain.