Bible-Reading.comExodus 18
1Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.
2Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, received Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her away,
3and her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom, for Moses said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land”.
4The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword.”
5Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the Mountain of God.
6He said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you with your wife, and her two sons with her.”
7Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed and kissed him. They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent.
8Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that had come on them on the way, and how the LORD delivered them.
9Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.
10Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
11Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods because of the way that they treated people arrogantly.”
12Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
13On the next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from the morning to the evening.
14When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, “What is this thing that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning to evening?”
15Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.
16When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.”
17Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good.
18You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone.
19Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to God.
20You shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do.
21Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
22Let them judge the people at all times. It shall be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves. So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share the load with you.
23If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.”
24So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.
25Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
26They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
27Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.
Exodus 19
1In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
2When they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain.
3Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:
4‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself.
5Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
6and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
7Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8All the people answered together, and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.
9The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
10The LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,
11and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.
12You shall set bounds to the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t go up onto the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death.
13No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it is animal or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.”
14Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
15He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”
16On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.
17Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lower part of the mountain.
18All of Mount Sinai smoked, because the LORD descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
19When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.
20The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. The LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
21The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
22Let the priests also, who come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break out on them.”
23Moses said to the LORD, “The people can’t come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it.’”
24The LORD said to him, “Go down! You shall bring Aaron up with you, but don’t let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them.”
25So Moses went down to the people, and told them.
Exodus 20
1God spoke all these words, saying,
2“I am the LORD 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“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
6and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.
8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9You shall labor six days, and do all your work,
10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;
11for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.
12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
13“You shall not murder.
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
18All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance.
19They said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die.”
20Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin.”
21The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
22The LORD said to Moses, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
23You shall most certainly not make gods of silver or gods of gold for yourselves to be alongside me.
24You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you.
25If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it.
26You shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed to it.’
Exodus 21
1“Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them:
2“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
3If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
5But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’
6then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.
7“If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.
8If she doesn’t please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
9If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter.
10If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.
11If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
12“One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,
13but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.
14If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
15“Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
16“Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17“Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
18“If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn’t die, but is confined to bed;
19if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.
20“If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, the man shall surely be punished.
21Notwithstanding, if his servant gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for the servant is his property.
22“If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow.
23But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,
24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
26“If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
27If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let the servant go free for his tooth’s sake.
28“If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
29But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
30If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed.
31Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.
32If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
33“If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
34the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
35“If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
36Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.