Beginning

The Lord Assures Moses That He Will Have Mercy on Israel

33 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “You and the people you brought out of Egypt must leave this place. Go to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ² I will send a Messenger ahead of you, and I will force out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ³ Go to that land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not be with you, because you are impossible to deal with, and I would destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard this bad news, they acted as if someone had died. No one wore any jewelry. ⁵ Yahweh had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are impossible to deal with. If I were with you, I might destroy you at any time. Now take off your jewelry, and I’ll decide what to do with you.’” ⁶ After they left Mount Horeb, the Israelites no longer wore their jewelry.

⁷ Now, Moses used to take a tent and set it up far outside the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who was seeking Yahweh’s will used to go outside the camp to the tent of meeting. ⁸ Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrances to their tents and watch Moses until he went in. ⁹ As soon as Moses went into the tent, the column of smoke would come down and stay at the entrance to the tent while Yahweh spoke with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the column of smoke standing at the entrance to the tent, they would all bow with their faces touching the ground at the entrance to their own tents. ¹¹ Yahweh would speak to Moses personally, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would come back to the camp, but his assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, stayed inside the tent.

¹² Moses said to Yahweh, “You’ve been telling me to lead these people, but you haven’t let me know whom you’re sending with me. You’ve also said, ‘I know you by name, and I’m pleased with you.’ ¹³ If you really are pleased with me, show me your ways so that I can know you and so that you will continue to be pleased with me. Remember: This nation is your people.”

¹⁴ Yahweh answered, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you peace.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your presence is not going with us, don’t make us leave this place. ¹⁶ How will anyone ever know you’re pleased with your people and me unless you go with us? Then we will be different from all other people on the face of the earth.”

¹⁷ Yahweh answered Moses, “I will do what you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Please let me see your glory.”

¹⁹ Yahweh said, “I will let all my goodness pass in front of you, and there I will call out my name ‘Yahweh.’ I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to. ²⁰ But you can’t see my face, because no one may see me and live.”

²¹ Then Yahweh said, “Look, there’s a place near me. Stand by this rocky cliff. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a crevice in the cliff and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take my hand away, and you’ll see my back, but my face must not be seen.”

The Lord Meets with Moses on the Mountain

34 Yahweh said to Moses, “Cut two more stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets which you smashed. ² Be ready in the morning. Then come up on Mount Sinai, and stand in my presence on the top of the mountain. ³ No one may come with you or even be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds may not graze in front of this mountain.”

⁴ So Moses cut two more stone tablets like the first ones. Early the next morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, carrying the two stone tablets.

⁵ Yahweh came down in a cloud and stood there with him and called out his name “Yahweh.”

⁶ Then Yahweh passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a compassionate and merciful El, patient, always faithful and ready to forgive. ⁷ He continues to show his love to thousands of generations, forgiving wrongdoing, disobedience, and sin. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children and grandchildren for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Immediately, Moses knelt, bowing with his face touching the ground. ⁹ Then he said, “Adonay, please go with us! Even though we are impossible to deal with, forgive our sin and the wrong we have done, and accept us as your own people.”

The Lord Makes His Promise with Israel Again

¹⁰ Yahweh said, “I’m making my promise^[a] again. In front of all your people I will perform miracles that have never been done in any other nation in all the world. All the people around you will see how awesome these miracles are that I will perform for you. ¹¹ Do everything that I command today. Then I will force the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites out of your way. ¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you’re going. This will prove to be a trap to you. ¹³ But tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, and cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. ¹⁴ (Never worship any other god, because Yahweh is El Kanna. In fact, he is known for not tolerating rivals.) ¹⁵ Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in that land. When they chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes and sacrifice to them, they may invite you to eat the meat from their sacrifices with them. ¹⁶ Then your sons will end up marrying their daughters. When their daughters chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes, they’ll lead your sons to do the same thing.

¹⁷ “Never make an idol.

¹⁸ “You must celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because in that month you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹ “Every first male offspring is mine, even the firstborn males^[b] of all your livestock, whether cattle, sheep, or goats. ²⁰ It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy back the firstborn donkey. If you don’t buy it back, then you must break the donkey’s neck. You must buy back every firstborn of your sons.

“No one may come into my presence without an offering.

²¹ “You may work six days, but on the seventh day you must not work. Even during the time of plowing or harvesting you must not work on this day.

²² “You must celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the first grain from your wheat harvest, and the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the season.

²³ “Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the Adonay, Yahweh Elohim of Israel. ²⁴ I will force nations out of your way and will expand your country’s borders. No one will want to take away your land while you’re gone three times a year to Yahweh’s festivals.

²⁵ “Never offer the blood of a sacrifice to me at the same time you offer anything containing yeast. No part of the sacrifice at the Passover Festival should be left over in the morning.

²⁶ “You must bring the first and best of the produce harvested from your soil to the house of Yahweh your Elohim.

“Never cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Write down these words, because on the basis of these words I’m making a promise to Israel and to you.”

²⁸ Moses was there with Yahweh 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the promise, the ten commandments.

Moses Returns to the People

²⁹ Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the two tablets with God’s words on them. His face was shining from speaking with Yahweh, but he didn’t know it.

³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses and saw his face shining, they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him. Then Moses spoke to them. ³² After that, all the other Israelites came near him, and he commanded them to do everything Yahweh told him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went into Yahweh’s presence to speak with him, he took off the veil until he came out. Whenever he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵ they would see that Moses’ face was shining. Then Moses would put the veil back on until he went in again to speak with Yahweh.

Rules about the Day of Worship

35 Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things Yahweh has commanded you to do: ² You may work for six days, but the seventh day is a holy day of worship, a day when you don’t work. It is dedicated to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on this day should be put to death. ³ Never light a fire in any of your homes on this day of worship.”

The People Contribute Their Wealth^(A)

⁴ Then Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what Yahweh has commanded: ⁵ Choose something of your own to give as a special contribution to Yahweh. Let everyone who is willing bring this kind of contribution to Yahweh: gold, silver, and bronze, ⁶ violet, purple, and bright red yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, ⁷ rams’ skins dyed red, fine leather,^[c] acacia wood, ⁸ olive oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense, ⁹ onyx stones, and other precious stones to be set in the chief priest’s ephod^[d] and breastplate.

The Craftsmen for the Tent^(B)

¹⁰ “Have all the skilled craftsmen among you come and make everything Yahweh has commanded: ¹¹ the inner tent, the outer tent, and cover, along with the fasteners, frames, crossbars, posts, and sockets, ¹² the ark with its poles, the throne of mercy and the canopy over it, ¹³ the table with its poles, all the dishes, the bread of the presence, ¹⁴ the lamp stand used for the light with its utensils, its lamps and the olive oil for the lamps, ¹⁵ the altar for incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet-smelling incense, the screen for the entrance to the tent, ¹⁶ the altar for burnt offerings with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its accessories, the basin with its stand, ¹⁷ the curtains for the courtyard, the posts, bases, and the screen for the entrance to the courtyard, ¹⁸ the pegs for the tent and the courtyard with their ropes, ¹⁹ the special clothes^[e] worn for official duties in the holy place—both the holy clothes for Aaron the priest and the clothes for his sons when they serve as priests.”

²⁰ Then the whole Israelite community left Moses. ²¹ Those who were willing and whose hearts moved them came and brought their contributions to Yahweh. The gifts were used to construct the tent of meeting, to pay other expenses, and to make the holy clothes. ²² All who were willing—men and women alike—came and brought all kinds of gold jewelry: pins,^[f] earrings, signet rings, and pendants. They took these gifts of gold and offered them to Yahweh. ²³ Those who had violet, purple, or bright red yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, or fine leather brought them. ²⁴ Those who could give silver or bronze brought it as their contribution to Yahweh. Those who had acacia wood that could be used in the construction brought it. ²⁵ All the women who were skilled in spinning yarn brought violet, purple, and bright red yarn, and fine linen, which they had made by hand. ²⁶ All the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goats’ hair. ²⁷ The leaders brought onyx stones and other precious stones to be set in the chief priest’s ephod and breastplate. ²⁸ They also brought the spices and the olive oil for the lamps, the anointing oil, and the sweet-smelling incense. ²⁹ Every Israelite man and woman who was willing brought all these items to Yahweh as a freewill offering. They brought these items to be used to make everything Yahweh had commanded through Moses.

³⁰ Then Moses said to the Israelites, “Yahweh has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri and grandson of Hur, from the tribe of Judah. ³¹ Yahweh has filled Bezalel with the Ruach Elohim, making him highly skilled, resourceful, and knowledgeable in all trades. ³² He’s a master artist familiar with gold, silver, and bronze. ³³ He knows how to cut and set stones and how to work with wood. He’s an expert in all trades. ³⁴ Also, Yahweh has given Bezalel and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan the ability to teach others. ³⁵ Yahweh has made these men highly skilled in all trades. They can do the work of jewelers, carpenters, and designers. They know how to embroider violet, purple and bright red yarn on fine linen. They know how to weave yarn on a loom. They can do all kinds of trades. They are master artists.”