The Daily Audio Bible

War with the Amalekites

⁸ The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. ⁹ Moses said to Joshua, “Pick out some men to go and fight the Amalekites tomorrow. I will stand on top of the hill holding the stick that God told me to carry.” ¹⁰ Joshua did as Moses commanded him and went out to fight the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up his arms, the Israelites won, but when he put his arms down, the Amalekites started winning. ¹² When Moses' arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down. ¹³ In this way Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites.

^14 (A)Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write an account of this victory, so that it will be remembered. Tell Joshua that I will completely destroy the Amalekites.” ¹⁵ Moses built an altar and named it “The Lord is my Banner.” ¹⁶ He said, “Hold high the banner of the Lord!^[a] The Lord will continue to fight against the Amalekites forever!”

Jethro Visits Moses

18 Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and the people of Israel when he led them out of Egypt. ^2 (B)So he came to Moses, bringing with him Moses' wife Zipporah, who had been left behind, ^3 (C)and Gershom and Eliezer, her two sons. (Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a strange land”; so he had named one son Gershom.^{[b] 4} He had also said, “The God of my father helped me and saved me from being killed by the king of Egypt”; so he had named the other son Eliezer.^[c]) ⁵ Jethro came with Moses' wife and her two sons into the desert where Moses was camped at the holy mountain. ⁶ He had sent word to Moses that they were coming, ⁷ so Moses went out to meet him, bowed before him, and kissed him. They asked about each other's health and then went into Moses' tent. ⁸ Moses told Jethro everything that the Lord had done to the king and the people of Egypt in order to rescue the Israelites. He also told him about the hardships the people had faced on the way and how the Lord had saved them. ⁹ When Jethro heard all this, he was happy ¹⁰ and said, “Praise the Lord, who saved you from the king and the people of Egypt! Praise the Lord, who saved his people from slavery! ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, because he did this when the Egyptians treated the Israelites with such contempt.” ¹² Then Jethro brought an offering to be burned whole and other sacrifices to be offered to God; and Aaron and all the leaders of Israel went with him to eat the sacred meal as an act of worship.

The Appointment of Judges^(D)

¹³ The next day Moses was settling disputes among the people, and he was kept busy from morning till night. ¹⁴ When Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do, he asked, “What is all this that you are doing for the people? Why are you doing this all alone, with people standing here from morning till night to consult you?”

¹⁵ Moses answered, “I must do this because the people come to me to learn God's will. ¹⁶ When two people have a dispute, they come to me, and I decide which one of them is right, and I tell them God's commands and laws.”

¹⁷ Then Jethro said, “You are not doing this right. ¹⁸ You will wear yourself out and these people as well. This is too much for you to do alone. ¹⁹ Now let me give you some good advice, and God will be with you. It is right for you to represent the people before God and bring their disputes to him. ²⁰ You should teach them God's commands and explain to them how they should live and what they should do. ²¹ But in addition, you should choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They must be God-fearing men who can be trusted and who cannot be bribed. ²² Let them serve as judges for the people on a permanent basis. They can bring all the difficult cases to you, but they themselves can decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you, as they share your burden. ²³ If you do this, as God commands, you will not wear yourself out, and all these people can go home with their disputes settled.”

²⁴ Moses took Jethro's advice ²⁵ and chose capable men from among all the Israelites. He appointed them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ²⁶ They served as judges for the people on a permanent basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding the smaller disputes themselves.

²⁷ Then Moses said good-bye to Jethro, and Jethro went back home.

The Israelites at Mount Sinai

19 ^1-2 The people of Israel left Rephidim, and on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai, ³ and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God.

The Lord called to him from the mountain and told him to say to the Israelites, Jacob's descendants: ⁴ “You saw what I, the Lord, did to the Egyptians and how I carried you as an eagle carries her young on her wings, and brought you here to me. ^5 (E)Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people, ^6 (F)a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests.” ⁷ So Moses went down and called the leaders of the people together and told them everything that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸ Then all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the Lord has said,” and Moses reported this to the Lord.

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on.”

Moses told the Lord what the people had answered, ¹⁰ and the Lord said to him, “Go to the people and tell them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves for worship. They must wash their clothes ¹¹ and be ready the day after tomorrow. On that day I will come down on Mount Sinai, where all the people can see me. ^12 (G)Mark a boundary around the mountain that the people must not cross, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even get near it. If any of you set foot on it, you are to be put to death; ¹³ you must either be stoned or shot with arrows, without anyone touching you. This applies to both people and animals; they must be put to death. But when the trumpet is blown, then the people are to go up to the mountain.”

¹⁴ Then Moses came down the mountain and told the people to get ready for worship. So they washed their clothes, ¹⁵ and Moses told them, “Be ready by the day after tomorrow and don't have sexual intercourse in the meantime.”

The Great Commandment^(A)

³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together, ³⁵ and one of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to trap him with a question. ³⁶ “Teacher,” he asked, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

^37 (B)Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and the most important commandment. ^39 (C)The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ^40 (D)The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

The Question about the Messiah^(E)

⁴¹ When some Pharisees gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose descendant is he?”

“He is David's descendant,” they answered.

⁴³ “Why, then,” Jesus asked, “did the Spirit inspire David to call him ‘Lord’? David said,

⁴⁵ If, then, David called him ‘Lord,’ how can the Messiah be David's descendant?”

⁴⁶ No one was able to give Jesus any answer, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Jesus Warns against the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees^(G)

23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. ² “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees are the authorized interpreters of Moses' Law. ³ So you must obey and follow everything they tell you to do; do not, however, imitate their actions, because they don't practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie onto people's backs loads that are heavy and hard to carry, yet they aren't willing even to lift a finger to help them carry those loads. ^5 (H)They do everything so that people will see them. Look at the straps with scripture verses on them which they wear on their foreheads and arms, and notice how large they are! Notice also how long are the tassels on their cloaks!^{[a] 6} They love the best places at feasts and the reserved seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them ‘Teacher.’ ⁸ You must not be called ‘Teacher,’ because you are all equal and have only one Teacher. ⁹ And you must not call anyone here on earth ‘Father,’ because you have only the one Father in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor should you be called ‘Leader,’ because your one and only leader is the Messiah. ^11 (I)The greatest one among you must be your servant. ^12 (J)Whoever makes himself great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be made great.

²⁷ Can you carry fire against your chest without burning your clothes? ²⁸ Can you walk on hot coals without burning your feet? ²⁹ It is just as dangerous to sleep with another man's wife. Whoever does it will suffer. ³⁰ People don't despise a thief if he steals food when he is hungry;^{[a] 31} yet if he is caught, he must pay back seven times more—he must give up everything he has. ³² But a man who commits adultery doesn't have any sense. He is just destroying himself. ³³ He will be dishonored and beaten up; he will be permanently disgraced. ³⁴ A husband is never angrier than when he is jealous; his revenge knows no limits. ³⁵ He will not accept any payment; no amount of gifts will satisfy his anger.