The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ “Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me. ¹⁵ Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. ¹⁶ Next, the festival of harvest, the firstfruits of your efforts sowing in the field; and last, the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the results of your efforts. ¹⁷ Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord, Adonai.

¹⁸ “You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the fat of my festival to remain all night until morning.

¹⁹ “You are to bring the best firstfruits of your land into the house of Adonai your God.

“You are not to boil a young animal in its mother’s milk.

(vi) ²⁰ “I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹ Pay attention to him, listen to what he says and do not rebel against him; because he will not forgive any wrongdoing of yours, since my name resides in him. ²² But if you listen to what he says and do everything I tell you, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. ²³ When my angel goes ahead of you and brings you to the Emori, Hitti, P’rizi, Kena‘ani, Hivi and Y’vusi, I will make an end of them. ²⁴ You are not to worship their gods, serve them or follow their practices; rather, you are to demolish them completely and smash their standing-stones to pieces.

²⁵ “You are to serve Adonai your God; and he will bless your food and water. I will take sickness away from among you. (vii) ²⁶ In your land your women will not miscarry or be barren, and you will live out the full span of your lives. ²⁷ I will send terror of me ahead of you, throwing into confusion all the people to whom you come; and I will make all your enemies turn their backs on you. ²⁸ I will send hornets ahead of you to drive out the Hivi, Kena‘ani and Hitti from before you. ²⁹ I will not drive them out from before you in one year, which would cause the land to become desolate and the wild animals too many for you. ³⁰ I will drive them out from before you gradually, until you have grown in number and can take possession of the land. ³¹ I will set your boundaries from the Sea of Suf to the sea of the P’lishtim and from the desert to the [Euphrates] River, for I will hand the inhabitants of the land over to you, and you will drive them out from before you. ³² You are not to make a covenant with them or with their gods. ³³ They are not to live in your land; otherwise they will make you sin against me by ensnaring you to serve their gods.”

24 To Moshe [Adonai] said, “Come up to Adonai — you, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy of the leaders of Isra’el. Prostrate yourselves at a distance, ² while Moshe alone approaches Adonai — the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.” ³ Moshe came and told the people everything Adonai had said, including all the rulings. The people answered with one voice: “We will obey every word Adonai has spoken.”

⁴ Moshe wrote down all the words of Adonai. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the base of the mountain and set upright twelve large stones to represent the twelve tribes of Isra’el. ⁵ He sent the young men of the people of Isra’el to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings of oxen to Adonai. ⁶ Moshe took half of the blood and put it in basins; the other half of the blood he splashed against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the book of the covenant and read it aloud, so that the people could hear; and they responded, “Everything that Adonai has spoken, we will do and obey.” ⁸ Moshe took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which Adonai has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu and seventy of the leaders went up; ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Isra’el. Under his feet was something like a sapphire stone pavement as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ He did not reach out his hand against these notables of Isra’el; on the contrary, they saw God, even as they were eating and drinking.

¹² Adonai said to Moshe, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah and the mitzvot I have written on them, so that you can teach them.” ¹³ Moshe got up, also Y’hoshua his assistant; and Moshe went up onto the mountain of God. ¹⁴ To the leaders he said, “Stay here for us, until we come back to you. See, Aharon and Hur are with you; whoever has a problem should turn to them.” (S: Maftir) ¹⁵ Moshe went up onto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. (A: Maftir) ¹⁶ The glory of Adonai stayed on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moshe out of the cloud. ¹⁷ To the people of Isra’el the glory of Adonai looked like a raging fire on the top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Moshe entered the cloud and went up on the mountain; he was on the mountain forty days and nights.

Haftarah Mishpatim: Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 34:8–22; 33:25–26

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Mishpatim: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:38–42; 15:1–20; Mark 7:1–23; Acts 23:1–11; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 9:15–22; 10:28–39

Parashah 19: T’rumah (Contribution) 25:1–27:19

25 Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Tell the people of Isra’el to take up a collection for me — accept a contribution from anyone who wholeheartedly wants to give. ³ The contribution you are to take from them is to consist of gold, silver and bronze; ⁴ blue, purple and scarlet yarn; fine linen, goat’s hair, ⁵ tanned ram skins and fine leather; acacia-wood; ⁶ oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁷ onyx stones and other stones to be set, for the ritual vest and breastplate.

⁸ “They are to make me a sanctuary, so that I may live among them. ⁹ You are to make it according to everything I show you — the design of the tabernacle and the design of its furnishings. This is how you are to make it.

¹⁰ “They are to make an ark of acacia-wood three-and-three-quarters feet long, two-and-a-quarter feet wide and two-and-a-quarter feet high. ¹¹ You are to overlay it with pure gold — overlay it both inside and outside — and put a molding of gold around the top of it. ¹² Cast four gold rings for it, and attach them to its four feet, two rings on each side. ¹³ Make poles of acacia-wood, and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ Put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark; you will use them to carry the ark. ¹⁵ The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they are not to be removed from it. ¹⁶ Into the ark you are to put the testimony which I am about to give you.

(ii) ¹⁷ “You are to make a cover for the ark out of pure gold; it is to be three-and-three-quarters feet long and two-and-a-quarter feet high. ¹⁸ You are to make two k’ruvim of gold. Make them of hammered work for the two ends of the ark-cover. ¹⁹ Make one keruv for one end and one keruv for the other end; make the k’ruvim of one piece with the ark-cover at its two ends. ²⁰ The k’ruvim will have their wings spread out above, so that their wings cover the ark, and their faces are toward each other and toward the ark-cover. ²¹ You are to put the ark-cover on top of the ark.

“Inside the ark you will put the testimony that I am about to give you. ²² There I will meet with you. I will speak with you from above the ark-cover, from between the two k’ruvim which are on the ark for the testimony, about all the orders I am giving you for the people of Isra’el.

²³ “You are to make a table of acacia-wood three feet long, eighteen inches wide and eighteen inches high. ²⁴ Overlay it with pure gold, and put a molding of gold around the top of it. ²⁵ Make around it a rim a handbreadth wide, and put a molding of gold around the rim. ²⁶ Make four gold rings for it, and attach the rings to the four corners, near its four legs. ²⁷ The rings to hold the poles used to carry the table are to be placed close to the rim. ²⁸ Make the poles of acacia-wood, overlay them with gold, and use them to carry the table.

²⁹ “Make its dishes, pans, bowls and pitchers of pure gold. ³⁰ On the table you are to place the bread of the presence in my presence always.

(S: iii) ³¹ “You are to make a menorah of pure gold. It is to be made of hammered work; its base, shaft, cups, ring of outer leaves and petals are to be of one piece with it. ³² It is to have six branches extending from its sides, three branches of the menorah on one side of it and three on the other. ³³ On one branch are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a ring of outer leaves and petals; likewise on the opposite branch three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a ring of outer leaves and petals; and similarly for all six branches extending from the menorah. ³⁴ On the central shaft of the menorah are to be four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its ring of outer leaves and petals. ³⁵ Where each pair of branches joins the central shaft is to be a ring of outer leaves of one piece with the pair of branches — thus for all six branches. ³⁶ The rings of outer leaves and their branches are to be of one piece with the shaft. Thus the whole menorah is to be a single piece of hammered work made of pure gold.

³⁷ “Make seven lamps for the menorah, and mount them so as to give light to the space in front of it. ³⁸ Its tongs and trays are to be of pure gold. ³⁹ The menorah and its utensils are to be made of sixty-six pounds of pure gold. ⁴⁰ See that you make them according to the design being shown you on the mountain.

²⁹ “But immediately following the trouble of those times,

³⁰ “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn,^[c] and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory.^{[d] 31} He will send out his angels with a great shofar;^[e] and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

³² “Now let the fig tree teach you its lesson: when its branches begin to sprout and leaves appear, you know that summer is approaching. ³³ In the same way, when you see all these things, you are to know that the time is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Yes! I tell you that this people will certainly not pass away before all these things happen. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁶ “But when that day and hour will come, no one knows — not the angels in heaven, not the Son, only the Father. ³⁷ For the Son of Man’s coming will be just as it was in the days of Noach. ³⁸ Back then, before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives, right up till the day Noach entered the ark; ³⁹ and they didn’t know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away. It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes. ⁴⁰ Then there will be two men in a field — one will be taken and the other left behind. ⁴¹ There will be two women grinding flour at the mill — one will be taken and the other left behind. ⁴² So stay alert, because you don’t know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But you do know this: had the owner of the house known when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you too must always be ready, for the Son of Man will come when you are not expecting him.

⁴⁵ “Who is the faithful and sensible servant whose master puts him in charge of the household staff, to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will go well with that servant if he is found doing his job when his master comes. ⁴⁷ Yes, I tell you that he will put him in charge of all he owns. ⁴⁸ But if that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is taking his time’; ⁴⁹ and he starts beating up his fellow servants and spends his time eating and drinking with drunkards; ⁵⁰ then his master will come on a day the servant does not expect, at a time he doesn’t know; ⁵¹ and he will cut him in two and put him with the hypocrites, where people will wail and grind their teeth!