The Daily Audio Bible

²⁰ Also Miryam the prophet, sister of Aharon, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines, dancing, ²¹ as Miryam sang to them:

²² Moshe led Isra’el onward from the Sea of Suf. They went out into the Shur Desert; but after traveling three days in the desert, they had found no water. ²³ They arrived at Marah but couldn’t drink the water there, because it was bitter. This is why they called it Marah [bitterness]. ²⁴ The people grumbled against Moshe and asked, “What are we to drink?” ²⁵ Moshe cried to Adonai; and Adonai showed him a certain piece of wood, which, when he threw it into the water, made the water taste good. There Adonai made laws and rules of life for them, and there he tested them. ²⁶ He said, “If you will listen intently to the voice of Adonai your God, do what he considers right, pay attention to his mitzvot and observe his laws, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians; because I am Adonai your healer.”

(A: v, S: iv) ²⁷ They came to Eilim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and camped there by the water.

16 They traveled on from Eilim, and the whole community of the people of Isra’el arrived at the Seen Desert, between Eilim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving the land of Egypt. ² There in the desert the whole community of the people of Isra’el grumbled against Moshe and Aharon. ³ The people of Isra’el said to them, “We wish Adonai had used his own hand to kill us off in Egypt! There we used to sit around the pots with the meat boiling, and we had as much food as we wanted. But you have taken us out into this desert to let this whole assembly starve to death!”

⁴ Adonai said to Moshe, “Here, I will cause bread to rain down from heaven for you. The people are to go out and gather a day’s ration every day. By this I will test whether they will observe my Torah or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, it will turn out to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” ⁶ Moshe and Aharon said to all the people of Isra’el, “This evening, you will realize that it has been Adonai who brought you out of Egypt; ⁷ and in the morning, you will see Adonai’s glory. For he has listened to your grumblings against Adonai — what are we that you should grumble against us?” ⁸ Moshe added, “What I have said will happen when Adonai gives you meat to eat this evening and your fill of bread tomorrow morning. Adonai has listened to your complaints and grumblings against him — what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against Adonai.”

⁹ Moshe said to Aharon, “Say to the whole community of Isra’el, ‘Come close, into the presence of Adonai, for he has heard your grumblings.’” ¹⁰ As Aharon spoke to the whole community of the people of Isra’el, they looked toward the desert; and there before them the glory of Adonai appeared in the cloud; (A: vi, S: v) ¹¹ and Adonai said to Moshe, ¹² “I have heard the grumblings of the people of Isra’el. Say to them: ‘At dusk you will be eating meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will realize that I am Adonai your God.’”

¹³ That evening, quails came up and covered the camp; while in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the people of Isra’el saw it, they asked each other, “Man hu? [What is it?]” because they didn’t know what it was. Moshe answered them, “It is the bread which Adonai has given you to eat. ¹⁶ Here is what Adonai has ordered: each man is to gather according to his appetite — each is to take an ‘omer [two quarts] per person for everyone in his tent.” ¹⁷ The people of Isra’el did this. Some gathered more, some less; ¹⁸ but when they put it in an ‘omer-measure, whoever had gathered much had no excess; and whoever had gathered little had no shortage; nevertheless each person had gathered according to his appetite.

¹⁹ Moshe told them, “No one is to leave any of it till morning.” ²⁰ But they didn’t pay attention to Moshe, and some kept the leftovers until morning. It bred worms and rotted, which made Moshe angry at them. ²¹ So they gathered it morning after morning, each person according to his appetite; but as the sun grew hot, it melted.

²² On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two ‘omers per person; and all the community leaders came and reported to Moshe. ²³ He told them, “This is what Adonai has said: ‘Tomorrow is a holy Shabbat for Adonai. Bake what you want to bake; boil what you want to boil; and whatever is left over, set aside and keep for the morning.’” ²⁴ They set it aside till morning, as Moshe had ordered; and it didn’t rot or have worms. ²⁵ Moshe said, “Today, eat that; because today is a Shabbat for Adonai — today you won’t find it in the field. ²⁶ Gather it six days, but the seventh day is the Shabbat — on that day there won’t be any.” ²⁷ However, on the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather and found none.

²⁸ Adonai said to Moshe, “How long will you refuse to observe my mitzvot and teachings? ²⁹ Look, Adonai has given you the Shabbat. This is why he is providing bread for two days on the sixth day. Each of you, stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.” (S: vi) ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The people called the food man. It was like coriander seed, white; and it tasted like honey cakes. ³² Moshe said, “Here is what Adonai has ordered: ‘Let two quarts of man be kept through all your generations, so that they will be able to see the bread which I fed you in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’” ³³ Moshe said to Aharon, “Take a jar, put in it two quarts of man, and set it aside before Adonai to be kept through all your generations.” ³⁴ Just as Adonai ordered Moshe, Aharon set it aside before the testimony to be kept. ³⁵ The people of Isra’el ate man for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate man until they arrived at the borders of the land of Kena‘an. ³⁶ (An ‘omer is one-tenth of an eifah [which is a bushel dry-measure].)

17 (vii) The whole community of the people of Isra’el left the Seen Desert, traveling in stages, as Adonai had ordered, and camped at Refidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. ² The people quarreled with Moshe, demanding, “Give us water to drink!” But Moshe replied, “Why pick a fight with me? Why are you testing Adonai?” ³ However, the people were thirsty for water there and grumbled against Moshe, “For what did you bring us up from Egypt? To kill us, our children and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴ Moshe cried out to Adonai, “What am I to do with these people? They’re ready to stone me!” ⁵ Adonai answered Moshe, “Go on ahead of the people, and bring with you the leaders of Isra’el. Take your staff in your hand, the one you used to strike the river; and go. ⁶ I will stand in front of you there on the rock in Horev. You are to strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so the people can drink.” Moshe did this in the sight of the leaders of Isra’el. ⁷ The place was named Massah [testing] and M’rivah [quarreling] because of the quarreling of the people of Isra’el and because they tested Adonai by asking, “Is Adonai with us or not?”

22 Yeshua again used parables in speaking to them: ² “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son, ³ but when he sent his slaves to summon the invited guests to the wedding, they refused to come. ⁴ So he sent some more slaves, instructing them to tell the guests, ‘Look, I’ve prepared my banquet, I’ve slaughtered my bulls and my fattened cattle, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding!’ ⁵ But they weren’t interested and went off, one to his farm, another to his business; ⁶ and the rest grabbed his slaves, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was furious and sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his slaves, ‘Well, the wedding feast is ready; but the ones who were invited didn’t deserve it. ⁹ So go out to the street-corners and invite to the banquet as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ The slaves went out into the streets, gathered all the people they could find, the bad along with the good; and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “Now when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who wasn’t dressed for a wedding; so he asked him, ¹² ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark!’ In that place people will wail and grind their teeth, ¹⁴ for many are invited, but few are chosen.”

¹⁵ Then the P’rushim went away and put together a plan to trap Yeshua with his own words. ¹⁶ They sent him some of their talmidim and some members of Herod’s party. They said, “Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and really teach what God’s way is. You aren’t concerned with what other people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person’s status. ¹⁷ So tell us your opinion: does Torah permit paying taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?” ¹⁸ Yeshua, however, knowing their malicious intent, said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used to pay the tax!” They brought him a denarius; ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose name and picture are these?” ²¹ “The Emperor’s,” they replied. Yeshua said to them, “Nu, give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give to God what belongs to God!” ²² On hearing this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

²³ That same day, some Tz’dukim came to him. They are the ones who say there is no such thing as resurrection, so they put to him a sh’eilah: ²⁴ “Rabbi, Moshe said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother must marry his widow and have children to preserve the man’s family line.’^{[a] 25} There were seven brothers. The first one married and then died; and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened to the second brother, and the third, and finally to all seven. ²⁷ After them all, the woman died. ²⁸ Now in the Resurrection — of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all married her.”

²⁹ Yeshua answered them, “The reason you go astray is that you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God. ³⁰ For in the Resurrection, neither men nor women will marry; rather, they will be like angels in heaven. ³¹ And as for whether the dead are resurrected, haven’t you read what God said to you, ³² ‘I am the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov’?^[b] He is God not of the dead but of the living!”

³³ When the crowds heard how he taught, they were astounded;