Chronological
Theophany at Sinai
19 In the third month after Bnei-Yisrael had gone out of the land of Egypt, that same day they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They travelled from Rephidim, came into to the wilderness of Sinai, and set up camp in the wilderness. Israel camped there, right in front of the mountain.
3 Moses went up to God, and Adonai called to him from the mountain saying, “Say this to the house of Jacob, and tell Bnei-Yisrael, 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now then, if you listen closely to My voice, and keep My covenant, then you will be My own treasure from among all people, for all the earth is Mine. 6 So as for you, you will be to Me a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you are to speak to Bnei-Yisrael.”
7 So Moses went, called for the elders of the people, and put before them all these words that Adonai had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “Everything that Adonai has spoken, we will do.” Then Moses reported the words of the people to Adonai.
9 Adonai said to Moses, “I am about to come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to Adonai.
10 Adonai said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothing. 11 Be ready for the third day. For on the third day Adonai will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 You are to set boundaries for the people all around, saying, ‘Be very careful not to go up onto the mountain, or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death. 13 Not a hand is to touch it, but he will surely be stoned or shot through. Whether it is an animal or a man, it will not live.’ When the shofar sounds, they may come up to the mountain.”
14 Then Moses went down from the mountain to the people, consecrated them, and then, they washed their clothing. 15 He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day. Do not draw near your wives.”
16 In the morning of the third day, there was thundering[a] and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and the blast of an exceedingly loud shofar. All the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the lowest part of the mountain. 18 Now the entire Mount Sinai was in smoke, because Adonai had descended upon it in fire. The smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace. The whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 When the sound of the shofar grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with a thunderous sound.
20 Then Adonai came down onto Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. Adonai called Moses to the top of the mountain, so Moses went up. 21 Then Adonai said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to see Adonai, and many of them die. 22 Even the kohanim who come near to Adonai must consecrate themselves, so that Adonai does not break out against them.”
23 Moses said to Adonai, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You are the One who warned us, saying, ‘Set boundaries around the mountain, and consecrate it.’”
24 Then Adonai said to him, “Go down. You are to come back up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the kohanim and the people break through to come up to Adonai, or He will break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.
The Ten Words
20 Then God spoke all these words saying,
2 “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 Do not make for yourself a graven image[b], or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the water under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to them, do not let anyone make you serve them. For I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to the thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My mitzvot.
7 “You must not take the Name of Adonai your God in vain, for Adonai will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in vain.
8 “Remember Yom Shabbat, to keep it holy. 9 You are to work six days, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Shabbat to Adonai your God. In it you shall not do any work—not you, nor your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your cattle, nor the outsider that is within your gates. 11 For in six days Adonai made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Thus Adonai blessed Yom Shabbat, and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land which Adonai your God is giving you.
13 “Do not murder.
14 “Do not commit adultery.
15 “Do not steal.
16 “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “Do not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
18 All the people witnessed the thundering and the lightning, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off. 19 So they said to Moses, “You, speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”
20 So Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that His fear may be in you, so that you do not sin.” 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
22 Then Adonai said to Moses, “Say this to Bnei-Yisrael: You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. 23 Do not make gods of silver alongside Me, and do not make gods of gold for yourselves. 24 You are to make an altar of earth for Me, and there you will sacrifice your burnt offerings, your fellowship offerings—your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you. 25 When you make for Me an altar of stones, do not build it from cut stone, for if you use a tool on it, you will have profaned it. 26 Nor are you to go up to My altar on steps, so that your nakedness would not be uncovered while on it.”
Parashat Mishpatim
Ordinances for the Covenant
21 “Now these are the ordinances which you will set before them.
2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve for six years, and in the seventh he is to go free, without payment. 3 If he comes in by himself, he is to go out by himself. If he was married, then his wife will go out with him. 4 If his master gave him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will be her master’s, and he will go free by himself.
5 “But if the servant plainly states, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children, and I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master is to bring him to God,[c] then take him to a door or to a doorpost. His master is to pierce his ear through with an awl, and he will serve him forever.
7 “If a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant, she is not to go free as the male servants do. 8 If she does not please her master who has selected her for himself, then he is to allow her to be redeemed. He will have no power to sell her to a foreign people, seeing as he has dealt deceitfully toward her. 9 If he betroths her to his son, he must give her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife, he is not to diminish her food, her clothing, or her marriage rights. 11 If he does not provide these three to her, then she is to go free without payment.
12 “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies must surely be put to death. 13 But if he did not hunt him down, yet God caused it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may run. 14 If a man presumes to kill his neighbor with craftiness, you are to take him from My altar and put him to death.
15 “Anyone who strikes his father or his mother must surely be put to death.
16 “Anyone who steals a person and sells him, or is found with him under his hand, must surely be put to death.
17 “Whoever curses his father or his mother must surely be put to death.
18 “If people quarrel, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and the other does not die but lies in bed, 19 if he rises again and walks around on his staff, then the one that struck him he will be cleared. But he must pay for the loss of his time and help him to be thoroughly healed.
20 “If a man strikes his male or female servant with a staff, who dies by his hand, he must surely be punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if the servant gets up in a day or two he will not be punished, for he is his property.[d]
22 “If men fight, and hit a pregnant woman so that her child is born early, yet no harm follows, the one who hit her is to be strictly fined, according to what the woman’s husband demands of him. He must pay as the judges determine. 23 But if any harm follows,[e] then you are to penalize life for life, 24 eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, blow for blow.
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he must let him go free for the sake of his eyesight. 27 If he strikes out his slave’s tooth, he must let him go free for the sake of his tooth.
28 “If an ox gores a man or a woman so that they die, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat is not to be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be cleared. 29 If the ox was given to goring in times past, and a warning has been given to its owner, yet he has not kept it pent up, and it has killed a man or a woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death. 30 If instead a ransom is placed on him, then he is to pay for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded. 31 Whether it has gored a son or daughter, this rule is to be applied to him. 32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, he is to pay 30 shekels of silver to their master, and the ox is to be stoned.
33 “If one uncovers a pit or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in, 34 the owner of the pit must pay compensation. He is to give money to the owner, and the dead animal will be his.
35 “If one man’s ox hurts another’s ox so that it dies, they are to sell the live ox and divide the price. They are also to divide the dead one. 36 Or if it becomes known that the ox was given to violence in times past, and its owner has not kept it pent up, he must surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his own. 37 [f] If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he is to pay five oxen for one ox or four sheep for one sheep.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.