Onkelos Exodus

Israel in Egypt

1 And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt with Jacob; each man came with the men of his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 And all the people descended from Jacob were seventy people, with Joseph who was in Egypt. 6 And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation; 7 but the sons of Israel increased and multiplied, and became great and very mighty, and the land was filled with them. 8 But a new king arose over Egypt who did not fulfill the decrees of Joseph.⁠a 9 And he said to his people, Look, the people of the sons of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we are: 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will multiply, and if war comes upon us they will join our enemies and fight against us, and go up from the land. 11 And they appointed evil governors over them to oppress them with their labors. And they built storage cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses. 12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they increased and grew strong, and the Egyptians were troubled because of the sons of Israel; 13 and the Egyptians made the sons of Israel serve harshly, 14 and made their lives bitter with hard labor, in clay and in brick, and in all kinds of work in the field; all the work they did, they made them do with hardship.

Pharaoh and the Midwives

15 And the king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Jewish women, the name of one of whom was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, When you act as midwives among the Jewish women, and you look at the birth, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live. 17 But the midwives stood in fear before the Lord, and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them, but kept the sons alive. 18 And the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this and kept the sons alive? 19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, It is because the Jewish women are not like the Egyptian women; they are skilled, and give birth before the midwives come to them. 20 And the Lord did good to the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives stood in fear before the Lord, He made households for them. 22 But Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son who is born to the Jews you shall throw into the river, and every daughter you shall keep alive.

The Birth of Moses

1 And a man of the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and she saw that he was good, and hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she took a basket of reeds, and coated it with bitumen and pitch, and laid the child in it, and set it in the river at the edge of the stream. 4 And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to find out what would be done to him. 5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her young women walked along the river's bank; and she saw the basket among the reeds, and reached out her arm and took it. 6 And she opened it and saw the child; and look, the baby was crying. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the children of the Jews. 7 Then his sister said to the daughter of Pharaoh, Shall I go and call a nurse from the Jews who will nurse the child for you? 8 And the daughter of Pharaoh said to her, Go; and the girl went and called the child's mother. 9 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay you your wages. And the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, and she named him Moses, saying, Because I drew him out of the water.

Moses Flees to Midian

11 And in those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their servitude. And he saw an Egyptian man striking a man, a Jew, one of his brothers. 12 And he looked this way and that, and saw that there was no one; and he struck down the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. 13 And he went out the next day, and look, two Jewish men were fighting. And he said to the one in the wrong, Why are you striking your companion? 14 But he said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian? And Moses was afraid, and said, Surely the thing is known. 15 And Pharaoh heard of this, and sought to kill Moses; and Moses fled from Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well; 16 and the chief of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 But the shepherds came and drove them away; and Moses got up and rescued them, and watered the flock. 18 And they came to Reuel their father; and he said, Why have you come back so soon today? 19 And they said, A man, an Egyptian, rescued us from the shepherds, and also drew water for us and watered the flock. 20 And he said to his daughters, And where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, so that he may eat bread. 21 And Moses agreed to live with the man; and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 22 And she gave birth to a son; and he named him Gershom; for he said, I am a stranger in a foreign land. 23 And after many days the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned under the hard service that was upon them; and their cry from their labor went up before the Lord. 24 And their appeal was heard before the Lord;⁠a and the Lord remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And the servitude of the sons of Israel was known before the Lord, and the Lord said in His Memra, that He would deliver them.⁠b

The Burning Bush and the Call of Moses

1 And Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the chief of Midian, and he led the flock to the place of the best pastures of the wilderness,⁠a and came to the mountain on which the glory of the Lord was revealed, to Horeb. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. And he looked, and saw the bush burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will turn aside now and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned up. 4 And the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, and the Lord called to him from the middle of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here I am. 5 And He said, Do not come near here; take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. 6 And He said, I am the God of your fathers; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at the glory of the Lord. 7 And the Lord said, The bondage of My people who are in Egypt is surely revealed before Me, and their cry because of their taskmasters is heard before Me; for their afflictions are revealed before Me;⁠b 8 and I have revealed Myself to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, a land producing milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, look, the cry of the sons of Israel has come up before Me, and the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them is also revealed before Me. 10 And now, come, I will send you to Pharaoh, and will bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said before the Lord, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And He said, Because My Memra shall be your helper:⁠c and this shall be the sign that I have sent you: when you lead the people out of Egypt, you shall worship before the Lord on this mountain. 13 And Moses said before the Lord, Look, when I come to the sons of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? what shall I say to them? 14 And the Lord said to Moses, EHEYEH ASHER EHEYEH. And He said, This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel, EHEYEH has sent me to you. 15 The Lord also said to Moses, This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My Memorial for every generation. 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, has revealed Himself to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I have surely remembered you, and what has been done to you in Egypt; 17 and I have said that I will bring you up from the bondage of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land producing milk and honey. 18 And they will obey you, and you shall go, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Jews, has called us; and now let us go a journey of three days into the desert, so that we may sacrifice before the Lord our God. 19 But it is known before Me that the king of Egypt will not let you go, not even because of the One whose power is mighty. 20 But I will send the blow of My power, and will strike the Egyptians with all My miracles which I will perform among them, and after that they will send you away. 21 And I will make this people find favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. 22 But each woman shall ask her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house for articles of silver and of gold and for clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, and so you shall empty Egypt.

Signs for Israel

1 And Moses answered and said, But look, they will not believe me or listen to me: for they will say, The Lord has not been revealed to you. 2 And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? and he said, A staff. 3 And He said, Throw it on the ground; and he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it. 4 And the Lord said to Moses, Reach out your hand and seize it by its tail; and he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand. 5 So that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers has been revealed to you, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 6 And the Lord said to him, Put your hand into your garment. And he put his hand into his garment, and took it out; and look, his hand was white as snow.⁠a 7 And He said, Put your hand back into your garment. And he put his hand back into his garment, and drew it out, and look, it had become like his own flesh again. 8 And if they will not believe you or accept the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the second sign. 9 But if they will not believe even these two signs, or accept what you say, take some of the water that is in the river and pour it on the ground; and the water that you take from the river will become blood on the ground. 10 And Moses said before the Lord, Please, I have never been eloquent, either in the past or since You spoke with Your servant: for I have difficulty speaking and expressing myself. 11 But the Lord said to him, Who has made the mouth of man, and who has made the mute, or the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 And now go, and My Memra will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what to say. 13 And he said, I ask the Lord to send by the hand of someone who is fit to be sent. 14 And the anger of the Lord burned against Moses; and He said, Is not Aaron the Levite, your brother, known before Me as one who can speak well?⁠b and also, look, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart. 15 And you shall speak with him, and put the words in his mouth; and My Memra will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what to do. 16 And he shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your interpreter, and you shall be a master to him; 17 and you shall take this staff in your hand, with which you will perform the signs.

Moses Returns to Egypt

18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go back now to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt; for all the men who sought to kill you are dead. 20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on the donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff with which the miracles had been done⁠c before the Lord in his hand. 21 And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, and he will not send the people away. 22 And you shall say to Pharaoh, This is what the Lord says: Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 And I say to you, Let My son go, so that he may worship before Me; and if you refuse to send him away, look, I will kill your son, your firstborn. 24 And on the way, at the lodging place, the Angel of the Lord met him and sought to kill him.⁠d 25 And Zipporah took a stone, and circumcised the foreskin of her son, and came near before him, and said, Because of the blood of this circumcision, let my husband be given back to me. 26 And when he had let him alone, she said, If not for the blood of this circumcision, my husband would have been condemned to die. 27 And the Lord said to Aaron, Go to meet Moses in the desert. And he went and met him at the mountain on which the glory of the Lord was revealed, and he kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words with which the Lord had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. 29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel; 30 and Aaron told them all the words which the Lord had spoken with Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people. 31 And the people believed, and understood that the Lord had remembered the sons of Israel, and that their slavery was revealed before Him; and they bowed down and worshiped.

Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh

1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast before Me in the desert. 2 And Pharaoh said, The name of the Lord is not known to me, that I should listen to His Memra to send Israel away. The name of the Lord is not revealed to me,⁠a and I will not release Israel. 3 And they said, The God of the Jews has revealed Himself to us;⁠b let us go now a three days' journey into the desert to sacrifice before the Lord our God, or He will come upon us with death or with slaughter. 4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why are you keeping the people from their work? Go back to your labor. 5 And Pharaoh said, Look, the people of the land are now many, and you are making them stop their labor.

Pharaoh Increases Israel's Labor

6 And that day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their overseers, saying, 7 You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves; 8 yet you shall still require of them the same number of bricks that they made before, and not reduce it; for they are idle, and that is why they cry out, saying, Let us go and sacrifice before our God. 9 Make the work heavier for the men: let them be busy with it, and not with empty words. 10 And the taskmasters of the people and their overseers went out and spoke to the people, saying, This is what Pharaoh says: I will not give you straw; 11 go and gather straw for yourselves wherever you can find it; yet nothing shall be reduced from your work. 12 And the people scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, Finish your work, each day's quota in its day, as you did when straw was given to you. 14 And the taskmasters whom Pharaoh had set over the sons of Israel beat them, saying, Why have you not finished your quota of bricks, both yesterday and today, as before? 15 And the overseers of the sons of Israel came and complained before Pharaoh, saying, Why have you treated your servants this way? 16 You have not given your servants straw, yet they say to us, Make bricks; and look, your servants are beaten, and your people sin against us. 17 But he said, You are idle, you are idle: that is why you say, Let us go and sacrifice before the Lord. 18 And now go and work: but I will not give you straw; yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks. 19 And the overseers of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, because they were told, You shall not reduce your bricks, each day's quota in its day. 20 And they met Moses and Aaron, who were standing in their way as they came out from Pharaoh. 21 And they said to them, May the Lord reveal Himself to you and judge; because you have made us offensive to Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hands to kill us! 22 And Moses returned before the Lord and said, Lord, why have You done harm to this people? Why did You send me? 23 Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.

The Promise of Deliverance

1 But the Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand he will send them away, and with a strong hand drive them out of this land.⁠a 2 And the Lord spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord; 3 and I revealed Myself to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but by My name, the Lord, I was not made known to them. 4 And I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners. 5 And the cry of the sons of Israel, whom the Egyptians are making labor for them, has been heard before Me; and I have remembered My covenant. 6 So say to the sons of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the hard labor of the Egyptians, and will deliver you from their servitude, and redeem you with a raised arm and with great judgments. 7 And I will bring you near before Me to be a people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brings you out from the hard bondage of Egypt. 8 And I will bring you into the land which I swore by My Memra to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you as an inheritance; I am the Lord. 9 And Moses spoke this way to the sons of Israel: but they did not accept it from Moses, because of anguish of spirit and the labor that was hard on them. 10 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 11 Go in and speak with Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he sends the sons of Israel away from his land. 12 And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, Look, the sons of Israel have not accepted it from me, so how will Pharaoh accept it, when I have such difficulty speaking? 13 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the sons of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Families of Moses and Aaron

14 These are the heads of their fathers' houses. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben. 15 And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon. 16 And these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were a hundred and thirty-seven years. 17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their families. 18 And the sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred and thirty-three years. 19 And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi, according to their generations. 20 And Amram took Jochebed, his father's sister, as his wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty-seven years. 21 And the sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri. 22 And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan and Zithri. 23 And Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, as his wife; and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 24 And the sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and Abiasaph: these are the families of Korah. 25 And Eleazar the son of Aaron took one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers of the Levites, according to their families. 26 It was Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, Bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. 27 They are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the sons of Israel out of Egypt: it was Moses and Aaron. 28 And on the day when the Lord spoke with Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, I am the Lord: Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you. 30 But Moses said before the Lord, Look, I have difficulty speaking, so how will Pharaoh accept it from me?

Signs before Pharaoh

1 But the Lord said to Moses, See, I have appointed you a Teacher to Pharaoh,⁠a and Aaron shall be your interpreter. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall speak with Pharaoh, so that he sends the sons of Israel away from his land. 3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh will not accept it from you; and I will lay the blow of My power on Egypt, and will bring My armies, My people, the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I raise the blow of My power over Egypt and bring the sons of Israel out from among them. 6 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them; that is what they did. 7 And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke with Pharaoh. 8 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 9 When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, Show a sign, you shall say to Aaron, Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. 10 And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and did as the Lord had commanded them. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 And Pharaoh called for the wise men and the magicians; and they also, the Egyptian magicians, did the same by their enchantments. 12 Each man threw down his staff, and they became serpents; but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Plagues Begin

14 And the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is stubborn: he refuses to send the people away. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning; look, he is going out to the water, and stand on the bank of the river to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent; 16 and say to him, The Lord God of the Jews has sent me to you, saying, Release My people, so that they may worship before Me in the desert; and look, you have not yet complied. 17 This is what the Lord says: By this you shall know that I am the Lord: Look, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the river, and it shall be turned to blood: 18 and the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river will stink, and the Egyptians will weary themselves trying to drink water from the river. 19 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your staff, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, and over their lakes, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. 20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he raised the staff and struck the waters of the river in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the waters of the river were turned into blood. 21 And the fish of the river died, and the river stank; and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 22 And the magicians did the same with their enchantments; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they could not drink the water that was in the river. 25 And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river; 26 and the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the Lord says: Send My people away, so that they may worship before Me. 27 But if you refuse to send them away, look, I will strike all your territory with frogs, 28 and the river shall swarm with frogs; and they shall come up and go into your house, and into your bedroom, and onto your bed, and into the houses of your servants, and among your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls; 29 and the frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.

Frogs, Lice, and Wild Animals

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Lift your hand with your staff over the streams, over the canals, and over the lakes; and the frogs shall come up on the land of Egypt.⁠a 2 And Aaron lifted up his hand over the waters of the Egyptians, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 3 And the magicians did the same with their enchantments, and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. 4 And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, Pray before the Lord that the frogs may be removed from me and from my people; and I will release the people, so that they may sacrifice before the Lord. 5 And Moses said to Pharaoh, Ask for a miracle for yourself, and set me a time when I shall pray for you, and for your servants and your people, that the frogs may be gone from you and from your houses, and remain only in the river. 6 And he said, Tomorrow. And he said, As you say; so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 7 And the frogs shall be removed from you and from your houses and your servants and your people; they shall remain only in the river. 8 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses prayed before the Lord about the frogs which he had set for Pharaoh. 9 And the Lord did as Moses said; and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the courtyards, and out of the fields. 10 And they gathered them into heaps upon heaps, and the land stank. 11 And Pharaoh saw that there was relief; and he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Lift up your staff and strike the dust of the earth, and it shall become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 13 And they did so. And Aaron lifted up his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on people and on cattle; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 14 And the magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they could not; and there were lice on people and on animals. 15 And the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is a plague from the Lord's presence. Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 16 And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh; look, he is going out to the water; and say to him, This is what the Lord says: Send My people away, so that they may worship before Me. 17 For if you will not send My people away, look, I will send the swarm of wild animals on you, and on your servants, and on your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with the swarm, and so shall the ground they stand on. 18 But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people live, so that no swarm shall be there; so that you may know that I am the Lord who rules in the midst of the earth. 19 And I will bring redemption to My people, but the plague shall be on your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen. 20 And the Lord did so; and the swarm came in force into Pharaoh's house, and into the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was ruined by the swarm. 21 And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Go, sacrifice before your God in the land. 22 But Moses said, It would not be right to do so; because the animals that the Egyptians worship are what we will take to sacrifice before the Lord our God. Look, if we sacrifice the animal that the Egyptians worship before their eyes, will they not stone us? 23 We will go a journey of three days into the desert, and sacrifice before the Lord our God, as He tells us. 24 And Pharaoh said, I will send you away, so that you may sacrifice before the Lord your God in the desert; only you shall not go very far away: pray for me too. 25 And Moses said, Look, I am going out from you, and I will pray before the Lord, and He will remove the swarm from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow; only let Pharaoh not deceive us again by refusing to send the people away to sacrifice before the Lord. 26 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed before the Lord. 27 And the Lord did as Moses said, and removed the swarm from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. 28 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and would not send the people away.

Plagues on Egypt

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what the Lord, the God of the Jews, says: Send My people away, so that they may worship before Me: 2 for if you refuse to send them away, and keep holding them, 3 look, a plague from the Lord's presence shall come upon your cattle which are in the field; upon the horses, upon the donkeys, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep, a very deadly plague. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of the Egyptians; and of all that the children of Israel own, not one shall die. 5 And the Lord set a time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. 6 And the Lord did this thing on the next day, and all the cattle of the Egyptians died; but of the cattle of the sons of Israel not one died. 7 And Pharaoh sent, and look, not one of the cattle of the sons of Israel had died. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not send the people away. 8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Take handfuls of soot from the furnace, and let Moses throw it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh; 9 and it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it shall become boils breaking out into sores on people and animals throughout all the land of Egypt. 10 And they took the soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the heavens, and it became boils breaking out into sores on people and animals. 11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. 12 And the Lord made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said to Moses. 13 And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Jews, says: Send My people away, so that they may worship before Me: 14 for this time I will send all My plagues upon your heart, and upon your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me, the Ruler in all the earth. 15 For it is now within My reach to send My strong plagues, and strike you and your people with death, and you would be cut off from the earth. 16 But for this reason I have kept you standing: to show you My power, and so that they may declare the might of My name in all the earth. 17 You still hold My people down, so as not to release them. 18 Look, at this time tomorrow I will bring down a very heavy hail, the like of which has never been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 And now, send and bring in your cattle and all that you have in the field; for the hail will fall on every person and animal that is found in the field and not brought into the house, and they shall die. 20 Whoever among Pharaoh's servants feared the word of the Lord brought his servants and his cattle into the houses; 21 but whoever did not set his heart on the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. 22 And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and animals and on every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt. 23 And Moses stretched out the staff toward the heavens, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the ground: and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt, 24 and there was hail, and fire flashing amid the hail, very heavy, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail struck everything that was in the field throughout all the land of Egypt, from people to cattle, and the hail struck every plant of the field, and broke every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail. 27 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time; the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty. 28 Pray before the Lord that there may be relief before Him, so that there are no more thunders of cursing like these before the Lord, and no hail; and I will send you away, and you shall stay no longer. 29 And Moses said to him, As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer before the Lord,⁠a and the thunder shall cease, and there shall be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you are not yet humbled before the Lord God. 31 And the flax and the barley were struck down, because the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom: 32 but the wheat and the spelt were not struck down, because they ripen late. 33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands in prayer before the Lord, and the thunder and the hail stopped, and the rain that had been coming down no longer reached the earth. 34 And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had stopped, and he sinned yet again, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not send the sons of Israel away, as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

Locusts and Darkness

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to set these signs of Mine among them; 2 and so that you may tell your son and your son's son the miracles that I did in Egypt and the signs that I set among them, so that you may know that I am the Lord. 3 And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Jews, says: How long will you stubbornly refuse to humble yourself before Me? Send My people away, so that they may worship before Me. 4 For if you refuse to release My people, look, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory, 5 and they shall hide the sun over the earth, so that no one will be able to see the ground; and they will devour what was left, what escaped and remained to you from the hail, and will devour every tree that grows for you in the field; 6 and they shall fill your houses, and the houses of your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen, from the day they came upon the earth until this day. And he turned and went out from Pharaoh. 7 And Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? Send the men away, so that they may worship before the Lord their God. Do you not know yet that Egypt is ruined? 8 And Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh; and he said to them, Go, worship before the Lord your God: but who exactly is going? 9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old; we will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our sheep and with our oxen; for we have a feast before the Lord. 10 And he said to them, So may the Memra of the Lord be your help, as surely as I send you away with your little ones: beware, for the evil you are planning to do will be turned back against your own faces. 11 Not so: let the men go and worship before the Lord; for that is what you asked for. And they were driven out of Pharaoh's presence. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may come up over the land of Egypt and devour every plant of the land, all that the hail has left. 13 And Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord drove an east wind over the land all that day and all night; in the morning the east wind had brought the locusts. 14 And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt, and settled throughout all the territory of Egypt in very great force. Never before had there been locusts like them, nor will there ever be again; 15 and they hid the sun over the whole earth, and the land was darkened; and they devoured every plant of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; and nothing green remained on the trees or in the plants of the field in all the land of Egypt. 16 And Pharaoh hurried to call Moses and Aaron, and said, I have sinned before the Lord your God, and against you. 17 And now, forgive my sin only this once, and pray before the Lord your God that He may remove only this death from me. 18 And they went out from Pharaoh, and prayed before the Lord. 19 And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, and it carried the locusts away and drove them into the Red Sea; not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt. 20 Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not send the sons of Israel away. 21 And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there shall be darkness over the land of Egypt after the darkness of the night has passed.⁠a 22 And Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days: 23 no one could see his brother, and no one rose from his place for three days. Yet all the sons of Israel had light in their homes. 24 And Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go, worship before the Lord; only leave your sheep and your oxen behind; your little ones may also go with you. 25 But Moses said, You must also put holy sacrifices and burnt offerings into our hands, so that we may offer them before the Lord our God. 26 Our cattle shall also go with us; not one shall be left behind; for we must take some of them to worship the Lord our God, and we do not know what we must offer before Him until we arrive there. 27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to send them away. 28 And Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me. Take care. Never see my face again; for on the day you see my face you shall die. 29 And Moses said, You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.

The Warning of the Final Plague

1 But the Lord said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will send you away from here. When he sends you away, he will drive you out of here completely. 2 Speak now before the people of Israel, that each man shall ask his companion, and each woman her companion, for vessels of silver and vessels of gold. 3 And the Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians; the man Moses was also very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh's servants and in the eyes of the people. 4 And Moses said, This is what the Lord says: At midnight I will be revealed in the midst of Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who is to sit on the throne of his kingdom to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the millstones, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 6 And there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 7 But no dog will so much as hurt any of the sons of Israel with its tongue by barking, whether person or animal, so that you may know that the Lord has made a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel. 8 And all these servants of yours shall come down to me and beg me, saying, Go out, you and all the people who follow you: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in fierce anger. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you; so I will multiply My wonders in the land of Egypt. 10 And Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not send the children of Israel out of his land.

Instructions for Passover

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month each man shall take a lamb for his father's house, a lamb for each household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest his house shall take one, according to the number of people; you shall count each person for the lamb according to what he will eat. 5 The lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 And they shall eat the meat that night, roasted in fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 You shall not eat any of it raw, or boiled in water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall not leave any of it until morning; and whatever is left of it until morning you shall burn in the fire. 11 And this is how you shall eat it: with your belts fastened, with your sandals on your feet, and your staffs in your hands, and you shall eat it in haste; it is the Passover before the Lord. 12 And I will be revealed in the land of Egypt on that night,⁠a and will kill every firstborn in the land, from people to animals, and on all the idols of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and I will see the blood and have mercy on you, and the plague of death shall not be among you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall celebrate it as a festival before the Lord throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it as an everlasting ordinance. 15 Eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day remove the leaven from your houses, for anyone who eats what is leavened, from the first day to the seventh day, will be cut off from Israel. 16 And on the first day there shall be a holy assembly, and on the seventh day you shall have a holy assembly. No work of any kind may be done on them, except what is needed for everyone to eat; only that may be done by you. 17 And you shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread; for on this very day I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt, and you shall keep this day throughout your generations forever. 18 In Nisan, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. 19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall perish from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a proselyte,⁠b or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your homes you shall eat unleavened bread. 21 And Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, Draw out and take for yourselves lambs from the flock for your families, and slaughter the Passover. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will be revealed to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will have mercy on the door, and will not allow the Destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 And you shall observe this as an ordinance for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you have entered the land which the Lord will give you, as He has said, you shall still keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, What does this service mean to you? 27 you shall say, It is a sacrifice of compassion before the Lord, because He had compassion on the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians but spared our houses. And the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 And the sons of Israel went and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron; that is what they did.

The Death of the Firstborn and the Departure from Egypt

29 And at midnight the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who was to sit on the throne of his kingdom to the firstborn of the captive in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 30 And Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. 31 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Get up, go out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go and worship before the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds too, as you have said, and go, and pray for me as well. 33 And the Egyptians pressed the people to hurry and send them away; for they said, We are all dead. 34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, with what was left in the kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 And the children of Israel did as Moses had said, and asked the Egyptians for vessels of silver and vessels of gold and clothing. 36 And the Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave them what they asked, and they emptied Egypt. 37 And the children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children; 38 and a large mixed crowd also went up with them, and flocks and herds, a great many cattle. 39 And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened cakes; for it had not been leavened, because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not wait, and they had not prepared any provisions for themselves. 40 And the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It is a night to be kept before the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt: this is that night before the Lord, kept by all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Who May Eat the Passover

43 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover. Every son of Israel who apostatizes shall not eat of it;⁠c 44 but every male slave bought with money, once you have circumcised him, may eat of it. 45 A resident foreigner and a hired worker shall not eat of it. 46 It shall be eaten in one group. You shall not carry any of the meat outside the house, and you shall not break a bone of it. 47 All the congregation of Israel shall do this. 48 And when a proselyte joins you as a convert and would keep the Passover before the Lord, every male of his household shall be circumcised, and then he may come near and keep it; he shall be like a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be one law for the native and for the proselyte who converts and lives among you. 50 And all the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron; that is what they did. 51 On that very day the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, arranged in their companies.

Remembering the Deliverance from Egypt

1 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 2 Sanctify to Me every firstborn. Whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, of people and of animals, is Mine. 3 And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, on which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out from there; and you shall not eat anything leavened. 4 Today you are going out, in the month of Abib. 5 And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He affirmed to your ancestors to give you,⁠a a land producing milk and honey, you shall perform this service in this month. 6 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day hold a feast before the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; nothing leavened shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. 8 And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, It is because of what the Lord did for me when He brought me out of Egypt. 9 And it shall be a sign for you on your hand and a memorial between your eyes, so that the Law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. 10 And you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year. 11 And when the Lord has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and has given it to you, 12 you shall set apart before the Lord everything that opens the womb; every male among the firstborn of your cattle shall be consecrated before the Lord. 13 And every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; but if you will not redeem it, you shall destroy it; and every firstborn son among your children you shall redeem. 14 And when your son asks you in time to come, saying, What is this? you shall say to him, With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of cattle; that is why I sacrifice before the Lord every male that opens the womb, and redeem every firstborn of my sons. 16 And it shall be a sign on your hand and tefillin between your eyes, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.

The Journey toward the Sea

17 And when Pharaoh had sent the people away, the Lord did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was the nearest; for the Lord said, The people may be terrified when they see war, and return to Egypt. 18 But the Lord led the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt armed. 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath, saying, The Lord will surely remember you, and you shall carry my bones up from here. 20 And they traveled from Succoth and camped at Etham, at the edge of the desert. 21 And the Lord went before them by day in the pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in the pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not leave its place in front of the people.

Pharaoh Pursues Israel

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak with the sons of Israel, that they turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon: you shall camp facing it by the sea. 3 And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the desert has closed in on them: 4 and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them; and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and through all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. 5 And the king of Egypt saw that the people had gone. And the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people; and they said, What is this that we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us? 6 And he made his chariot ready, and took his people with him. 7 He also took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of the Egyptians, with strong men over all of them. 8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel. But the children of Israel were going out with heads uncovered. 9 And the Egyptians pursued them, and overtook them as they were camped by the sea, all Pharaoh's chariot horses, and his horsemen, and his army, at Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. 10 And Pharaoh came near, and the sons of Israel lifted up their eyes, and look, the Egyptians were coming after them: and they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out before the Lord. 11 And they said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this that you have done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not what we told you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone, and let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. 13 And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid; stand still and see the Lord's deliverance, which He will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today you will never see again: 14 the Lord will fight the battle for you, and you shall be still.

The Crossing of the Sea

15 And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard your prayer.⁠a Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward: 16 and you, take your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go into the middle of the sea on dry ground. 17 And I, look, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after them; and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and through all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen; 18 and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have been glorified through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. 19 And the angel of the Lord, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them. 20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but to Israel it was a light all the night:⁠b and the one did not come near the other all night. 21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided; 22 and the children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on dry ground; and the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the middle of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the army of the Egyptians into confusion. 25 And He removed the wheels of their chariots, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, Let us flee from Israel; for this is the power of the Lord which does battle for them against Egypt.⁠c 26 And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and toward morning the sea returned to its full strength; and the Egyptians fled before it; and the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. 28 And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all Pharaoh's army that had gone into the sea after them; not one of them remained. 29 But the children of Israel walked on dry land through the middle of the sea; and the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left. 30 And the Lord delivered Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 And Israel saw the power of the great hand which the Lord had shown in Egypt; and the people stood in fear before the Lord, and believed in the Memra of the Lord, and in the prophetic work of Moses His servant.

The Song at the Sea

1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song before the Lord; they said, We will sing and give thanks before the Lord, because He is exalted above the mighty, and the power is His own; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. 2 My strength and my song is the awesome Lord; He has said by His Memra that He will be my Redeemer. This is my God, and I will build Him a sanctuary; the God of my fathers, and I will worship before Him. 3 The Lord is a master of victory in war,⁠a the Lord is His Name. 4 He has thrown Pharaoh's chariots and his horses into the sea; his chosen warriors are drowned in the Red Sea. 5 The depths covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone. 6 Your right hand, Lord, is glorious in power; Your right hand, Lord, shatters the enemy. 7 And in the greatness of Your might You have broken down those who rose up against Your people. You sent out Your anger, and it destroyed them like stubble in the fire,⁠b 8 and by the word of Your mouth, the waters became wise and stood up like a wall;⁠c the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the captured goods; my soul shall be satisfied with them; I will draw my sword, and my hand shall destroy them. 10 You spoke by Your Memra, the sea covered them, they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 There is none besides You, God,⁠d glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders. 12 You lifted up Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them. 13 In Your goodness You have led out Your people whom You redeemed; by Your strength You will bring them to the dwelling of Your holiness. 14 The nations will hear and tremble; terror will seize the inhabitants of Philistia; 15 then the chiefs of Edom will be alarmed; trembling will seize the strong ones of Moab; and those who live in Canaan will be broken. 16 Fear and dread will fall upon them; by the greatness of Your power they will be as silent as a stone, until Your people, Lord, cross the Arnon, until the people You redeemed cross the Jordan. 17 You will bring them in and settle them on the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place You have prepared for the house of Your Shekinah, the sanctuary, Lord, that Your hands have established. 18 The kingdom of the Lord endures forever and ever. 19 For when Pharaoh's horses, with his chariots and his horsemen, had gone into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, and the children of Israel walked on dry land through the middle of the sea. 20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them: Sing and give thanks before the Lord, for He is exalted above the proud, and the majesty belongs only to Him; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.

The Waters of Marah and Elim

22 And Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Shur, and traveled three days in the desert but found no water. 23 And they came to Marah, and could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; that is why it was named Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And he prayed before the Lord; and the Lord instructed him about a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There He made a statute and a judgment for them, and there He tested them. 26 And He said, If you will listen carefully to the Memra of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will not bring on you any of the diseases that I brought on Egypt; for I am the Lord your Healer. 27 And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.

Manna and Quail in the Wilderness

1 And they traveled from Elim, and the whole assembly of the sons of Israel came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they came out of the land of Egypt. 2 And all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron in the desert; 3 and the children of Israel said to them, If only we had died before the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, and could eat bread and be satisfied!⁠a Why have you brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger? 4 And the Lord said to Moses, Look, I will make bread come down to you from heaven; and the people shall go out and gather each day's portion on its day, so that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 5 And on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it shall be twice as much as they gather each day. 6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the Glory of the Lord; for your complaints are heard before the Lord: and what are we, that you complain against us? 8 And Moses said, The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to the full, because your complaints against Him are heard before the Lord. For what are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the Memra of the Lord. 9 And Moses said to Aaron, Tell all the congregation of the sons of Israel to come near before the Lord; for your complaints are heard before the Lord. 10 And while Aaron was speaking with all the congregation of the sons of Israel, they turned toward the desert, and look, the glory of the Lord was revealed in the cloud. 11 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 12 The complaints of the children of Israel are heard before Me. Speak with them and say, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. 13 And in the evening the quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning dew lay all around the camp; 14 and when the dew that had fallen had gone up, look, on the surface of the desert there was a fine, uncovered substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 And the sons of Israel saw it, and said to one another, What is it? for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is the word that the Lord has commanded: Let each man gather of it according to what he eats, an omer for each person, according to the number of your people; each man shall take for those in his tent. 17 And the sons of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, others less; 18 and they measured it with an omer, and whoever had gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever had gathered little had no lack; each gathered according to what he would eat. 19 And Moses said to them, No one is to leave any of it until morning. 20 But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and rotted. And Moses was angry with them. 21 And they gathered it morning by morning, each according to what he would eat; and when the sun grew hot, what was left on the surface of the field melted.

Manna and the Sabbath

22 And on the sixth day they gathered a double quantity of bread, two omers for each one: and all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said to them, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath before the Lord. Bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil, and put aside all that is left over for yourselves, to be kept until morning. 24 And they put it aside until morning, as Moses had commanded; and it did not rot, and there were no worms in it. 25 And Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath before the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 For six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none. 27 And on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day; let each man stay where he is, and let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 And the people rested on the seventh day. 31 And the house of Israel named it manna; and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like cakes fried in honey. 32 And Moses said, This is the word which the Lord has commanded: Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations, so that they may see the bread which I fed you in the desert when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. 33 And Moses said to Aaron, Take a jar, and put an omer full of manna in it, and place it before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. 34 As the Lord commanded, so Moses did; and Aaron placed it before the Testimony, to be kept. 35 And the children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan. 36 And an omer is the tenth of three seahs.

Water from the Rock

1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the desert of Sin, stage by stage, at the Memra of the Lord; and they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 And the people quarreled with Moses, and said, Give us water to drink. And Moses said, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put Him to the test before the Lord? 3 But the people were thirsty there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, Why did you bring us up from Egypt, to kill me and my children and my cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses prayed before the Lord, saying, What shall I do with this people? A little more, and they will stone me! 5 And the Lord said to Moses, Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you, and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the river, and go. 6 I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb.⁠a Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel. 7 And he named the place Massah and Meribah, because the sons of Israel quarreled, and because they put Him to the test before the Lord, saying, Is the Shekinah of the Lord among us or not?

The Battle with Amalek

8 And Amalek came and fought a battle with Israel at Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, Choose men for us, and go out and fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, with the staff through which the miracles are performed from the Lord's presence in my hand. 10 And Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And whenever Moses raised his hand, the house of Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, the house of Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other; and so his hands stayed stretched out in prayer until the sun went down. 13 And Joshua shattered Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 And the Lord said to Moses, Write this as a memorial in the Book, and put it before Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. 15 And Moses built an altar, and worshiped on it before the Lord, who had performed such miracles for him. 16 And he said, This has been declared with an oath from the presence of the Awesome One, whose Shekinah is on His glorious throne: that war shall be waged against the house of Amalek, to destroy it from the generations of the world.

Jethro Visits Moses

1 And Jethro, the chief of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard of all that the Lord had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah the wife of Moses, after he had sent her back, 3 and her two sons, the name of one of whom was Gershom; For, he said, I have been a stranger in a foreign land; 4 and the name of the other was Eliezer; For, he said, the God of my father was my helper, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. 5 And Jethro the father-in-law of Moses came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the desert where he was camped, at the mountain on which the glory of the Lord was revealed. 6 And he had sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her. 7 And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed down and kissed him, and each greeted the other with peace; and they went into the tent. 8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for Israel's sake, and all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9 And Jethro was glad about all the good which the Lord had done for Israel, whom He had saved from the hand of Egypt. 10 And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from under the rule of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is great, and that there is no God but He;⁠a for by the very thing by which the Egyptians had thought to punish Israel, they themselves are punished. 12 And Jethro the father-in-law of Moses offered a burnt offering and holy sacrifices before the Lord. And Aaron came, with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with the father-in-law of Moses before the Lord.

The Appointment of Judges

13 And on the next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening; 14 and the father-in-law of Moses saw all that he was doing for the people. And he said, What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, with all the people standing around you from morning until evening? 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to seek instruction from the Lord's presence. 16 When they have a matter for judgment they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and make known to them the statutes of the Lord and His laws. 17 But the father-in-law of Moses said to him, What you are doing is not right; 18 you will surely wear yourself out, both you and this people who are with you; for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19 Now listen to me; I will give you advice, and the Memra of the Lord will be your helper. You be the one who seeks instruction from the Lord's presence for the people, and bring their matters before the Lord: 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work that they must do. 21 And you, look out from the whole people for capable men who fear the Lord, men of truth who hate taking mammon;⁠b and set them over them as chiefs of thousands, and chiefs of hundreds, and chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens. 22 And they shall judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so they will make it lighter for you and bear it with you. 23 If you do this, and the Lord commands you, you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace. 24 And Moses listened to his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. 25 And Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and made them heads over the people: chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens; 26 and they judged the people at all times; the difficult matters they brought to Moses, and every small matter they judged themselves. 27 And Moses sent his father-in-law away, and he went to his own land.

Israel at Mount Sinai

1 In the third month after the sons of Israel went out from the land of Egypt, on that day they came to the desert of Sinai. 2 And they traveled from Rephidim and came to the desert of Sinai, and camped there beside the mountain. 3 And Moses went up before the Lord. And the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, This is what you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel: 4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you as on eagles' wings, and brought you near to My worship: 5 and now, if you will truly accept My Memra and keep My covenant, you shall be more beloved before Me than all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you, before Me, shall be kings, priests, a holy people.⁠a These are the words which you shall speak with the sons of Israel. 7 And Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set all these words before them, as the Lord had commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses brought the words of the people back before the Lord. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, Look, I will be revealed to you in the thickness of the cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also trust in you forever. And Moses told the words of the people before the Lord. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and prepare them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes; 11 and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will be revealed before the eyes of all the people on Mount Sinai. 12 And you shall set a boundary for the people all around, saying, Take care not to go up on the mountain or to touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him; for he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether animal or person, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall be allowed to come up to the mountain. 14 And Moses came down from the mountain to the people, and prepared the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, Be ready on the third day; do not go near a woman. 16 And on the morning of the third day there were voices and lightning and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet very loud; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses led the people out of the camp to meet the Memra of the Lord;⁠b and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 And Mount Sinai was all smoking, because the Lord was revealed upon it in fire; and its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and he was answered by a voice from the presence of the Lord.⁠c 20 And the Lord was revealed on Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain; and Moses went up. 21 And the Lord said to Moses, Go down, warn the people not to break through before the Lord to look, or many of them will fall. 22 And let the priests also, who come near to minister before the Lord, sanctify themselves, or the Lord will strike them down. 23 And Moses said before the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, Set a boundary around the mountain, and sanctify it. 24 But the Lord said to him, Go down, and come up again, you and Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up before the Lord, or He will strike them down. 25 And Moses went down to the people and spoke with them.

The Ten Commandments

1 And the Lord 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 slavery. 3 You shall have no other God besides Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an image or likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth: 5 you shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the rebellious children for the sins of the fathers to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, when the children continue to sin as their fathers did;⁠a 6 but doing good to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7 You shall not swear by the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not let anyone who swears falsely by His Name go unpunished. 8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labor and do all your work; 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath before the Lord your God. You shall not do any work: not you, your son, your daughter, your male or female servant, your cattle, or the foreigner who lives in your city. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; so the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 You shall not kill a person. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 14 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The People at Sinai and Instructions for the Altar

15 And all the people saw the thunder and the flames and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and the people saw it and trembled, and stood at a distance. 16 And they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will listen; but do not let it be spoken to us from the Lord's presence, or we will die. 17 And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid; He has revealed the glory of the Lord to you in order to test you, and so that the fear of Him may be before you, so that you do not sin. 18 And the people stood at a distance, but Moses came near to the darkness where the glory of the Lord was. 19 And the Lord said to Moses, This is what you shall say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from the heavens. 20 You shall not make idols of silver before Me,⁠b and you shall not make idols of gold for yourselves. 21 You shall make an altar of earth before Me, and offer on it your burnt offerings and your holy sacrifices, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause My Shekinah to dwell, there I will send My blessing and bless you. 22 And if you make Me an altar of stone before Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you lift your cutting tool on it, you will profane it. 23 And you shall not go up to My altar by steps, so that your nakedness is not seen on it.

Servants and Their Rights

1 And these are the judgments which you shall set before them. 2 When you buy a servant, a son of Israel, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, without payment. 3 If he came in alone, he shall go out alone; if he was married, his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall belong to the master, and he shall go out alone. 5 But if the servant plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out free, 6 his master shall bring him before the judges,⁠a and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall be his servant who works for him forever. 7 And when a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants go out. 8 If she displeases her master, who had designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to another man, to rule over her. 9 And if he has designated her for his son, he shall treat her according to the custom of the daughters of Israel. 10 If he takes another wife for himself, he shall not reduce her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out free, without payment of money.

Injuries and Compensation

12 Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. 13 But if it was not done by lying in wait for him, but he was delivered into his hand from the Lord's presence, then I will appoint a place for you to which he may flee. 14 But when a man acts wickedly against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him even from My altar to put him to death. 15 Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 16 And whoever kidnaps a person of the house of Israel and sells him, or if he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death. 17 And whoever curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 18 And when men quarrel, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, 19 if he gets up again and walks around outside on his staff, the one who struck him shall go unpunished; only he shall pay for his lost work and pay the physician's fee. 20 And when a man strikes his servant or his female servant with a staff, and he dies under his hand, he will surely be judged.⁠b 21 But if he survives a day or two, he shall not be judged, because he is his property. 22 If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman so that she miscarries, but she does not die, he shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband may impose on him, and he shall pay according to the decision of the judges. 23 But if death results, you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,⁠c 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 And if a man strikes the eye of his servant or his female servant and destroys it, he shall let him go free because of his eye. 27 Or if he knocks out a tooth of his servant or a tooth of his female servant, he shall let him go free because of his tooth. 28 If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall not be held liable. 29 But if the ox had been in the habit of goring before, and its owner had been warned, and he did not keep it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 If a monetary fine is laid on him, he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him. 31 If the ox gores a son or a daughter of Israel, it shall be done to him according to this same judgment. 32 If an ox gores a male or female servant, the owner shall give their master thirty selas of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. 33 And if a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall pay: he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his. 35 And if one man's ox injures his neighbor's ox so that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide the money; and they shall also divide the dead one. 36 But if it was known that the ox had been in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner did not keep it in, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead one shall be his. 37 If a man steals an ox or a lamb, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox, and four sheep for the lamb.

Theft, Property, and Restitution

1 If a thief is found breaking in, and he is struck and dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him. 2 If the eyes of witnesses fall upon him,⁠a there shall be bloodguilt for him; he shall surely make restitution. If he has nothing, he shall be sold for his theft. 3 If the stolen animal, whether ox or donkey, is found alive in his possession, he shall pay back double. 4 If a man lays waste a field or a vineyard, or sends his cattle to graze in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his field and the best of his vineyard. 5 If a fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that sheaves or standing grain or the field are consumed, the one who started the fire shall surely make restitution. 6 When a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep, and they are stolen from the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay back double. 7 If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall be brought before the judges to swear that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor's property. 8 In every case of wrongdoing, whether about an ox, a donkey, a lamb, clothing, or anything lost of which someone says, This is it, the case of both parties shall come before the judges, and the one whom the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. 9 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a lamb or any animal to keep, and it dies, or is injured, or is driven away, with no one seeing it, 10 an oath before the Lord shall be between them that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor's property, and its owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution. 11 But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner; 12 and if it is torn by a wild animal, let him bring witnesses that it was torn; he shall not make restitution. 13 And if a man borrows from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while its owner is not with it, he shall surely make restitution. 14 But if its owner was with it, he shall not make restitution. If it was hired, let it be considered covered by its hire.

Responsibilities toward Others and before God

15 And if a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall surely take her as his wife. 16 If her father refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins. 17 You shall not let a sorceress live. 18 Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death. 19 Whoever sacrifices to the idols of the nations shall be put to death, except sacrifice to the Name of the Lord alone. 20 And you shall not wrong a proselyte or oppress him; for you were residents in the land of Egypt. 21 You shall not mistreat any widow or orphan: 22 if you mistreat them in any way, and they cry out before Me, I will surely hear their cry; 23 and My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. 24 If you lend money to My people, to the poor who are with you, you shall not act like a creditor to him, and you shall not impose harm upon him. 25 If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. 26 For it may be his only covering; for then it is the clothing for his skin: in what shall he sleep? And when he cries out before Me, I will listen; for I am merciful. 27 Do not revile the judges,⁠b nor curse the ruler of My people. 28 You shall not delay to offer your firstfruits and your tithes: the firstborn of your sons you shall set apart before Me; 29 you shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. Seven days the firstborn shall stay with its mother; on the eighth day you shall set it apart before Me. 30 And you shall be holy men before Me; and you shall not eat flesh torn from a living animal; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Justice and Care for Others

1 You shall not accept a false report, nor join hands with the wicked to be a false witness for him. 2 You shall not follow the majority to do evil, nor shall you hold back from teaching what seems right to you in judgment; you shall carry out judgment according to the majority.⁠a 3 And you shall not show pity to the poor man in his judgment. 4 If you come upon your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him. 5 When you see the donkey of your enemy lying down under its load, you shall refrain from abandoning him; you shall surely let go of what is in your heart against him, and help him with it. 6 You shall not pervert the judgment of the poor man in his case. 7 Keep far away from a false matter; and you shall not kill one who has been declared innocent and has come out of judgment cleared; for I will not justify the guilty. 8 And you shall not take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. 9 And you shall not oppress a proselyte; for you know the heart of a proselyte, since you were residents in the land of Egypt.

Sabbaths and Festivals

10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, 11 but in the seventh year you shall let it alone and let it rest, so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave the animals of the field may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard and with your olive grove. 12 For six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the proselyte may be refreshed. 13 And be careful about all that I have said to you, and do not remember the name of the idols of the Gentiles;⁠b do not let it be heard on your lips. 14 Three times a year you shall celebrate a festival before Me. 15 You shall keep the festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; and you shall not appear before Me empty-handed. 16 And you shall keep the festival of the harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in your fields; and the festival of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord, the Ruler of the world. 18 You shall not offer the blood of My Passover with leavened bread, nor shall the fat of the festival sacrifice remain outside the altar until morning. 19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you will bring into the sanctuary of the Lord your God. Do not eat meat with milk.⁠c

The Journey into the Promised Land

20 Look, I am sending My Angel before you, to protect you on the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.⁠d 21 Be careful before Him, and listen to His words; do not rebel against Him, for He will not forgive your sins; for His words are in My Name. 22 For if you truly listen to His words and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies, and will oppress those who oppress you. 23 For My Angel shall go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites, and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will destroy them. 24 You shall not bow down to their idols, nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly demolish them and break their pillars in pieces; 25 and you shall worship before the Lord your God, and He will bless your food and your drink, and will take away serious illnesses from among you. 26 No one shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send My terror before you, and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you come to fight, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs before you. 28 I will send the hornet before you, and it shall drive out the Hivites and the Canaanites and the Hittites ahead of you. 29 I will not drive them out ahead of you in one year, or the land would become desolate, and the wild animals would multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the river; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their idols. 33 They shall not live in your land, or they will make you sin before Me; for if you serve their idols, it will be a stumbling block to you.

The Covenant at Sinai

1 And He said to Moses, Come up before the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and you shall worship from a distance. 2 And Moses alone shall come near before the Lord, but they shall not come near, and the people shall not go up with them. 3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do. 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he got up early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent the firstborn sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed oxen as holy sacrifices before the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the Book of the Covenant and read it before the people; and they said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do and obey. 8 And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar to make atonement for the people,⁠a and said, This is the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words. 9 And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10 And they saw the Glory of the God of Israel, and under the throne of His glory something like the work of a precious stone, and like the face of heaven in its clearness.⁠b 11 Yet the nobles of the sons of Israel were not harmed; and they saw the Glory of the Lord, and rejoiced in their sacrifices, which were accepted with favor, as though they had eaten and drunk.⁠c

Moses Ascends the Mountain

12 And the Lord said to Moses, Come up before Me on the mountain, and stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone, and the law and the commandments, which I have written, so that you may teach them. 13 And Moses got up with Joshua his assistant, and Moses went up the mountain on which the Glory of the Lord was revealed. 14 But he said to the elders, Wait for us here until we come back to you: and look, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a matter for judgment, let him bring it before them. 15 And Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain; 16 and the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses from the middle of the cloud. 17 And the appearance of the Glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain before the eyes of the sons of Israel. 18 And Moses went into the middle of the cloud, and went up the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Offerings for the Sanctuary

1 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 2 Speak with the sons of Israel, that they set apart an offering before Me: you shall receive the offering from every man whose heart is willing. 3 And this is the offering that you shall take from them: gold, and silver, and bronze; 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 5 and rams' skins dyed red, and purple skins, and acacia wood; 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil, and spices for the incense; 7 beryl stones, and stones for setting in the ephod and the breastplate. 8 And they shall make a Sanctuary before Me, so that I may cause My Shekinah to dwell among them. 9 You shall make them exactly as I show you the pattern of the sanctuary and the pattern of all its vessels.

Furnishings for the Sanctuary

10 And they shall make an Ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold inside and outside, and you shall make a crown of gold all around it. 12 And you shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them on its four corners, two rings on one side of it and two rings on its other side. 13 And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, 14 and you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, so that the ark may be carried by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the Testimony that I will give you. 17 And you shall make a Mercy Seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work, at the two ends of the Mercy Seat. 19 And you shall make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end of the Mercy Seat; you shall make the cherubim on its two ends. 20 And the cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the Mercy Seat with their wings; and their faces shall be toward each other; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the Mercy Seat. 21 And you will put the Mercy Seat on top of the Ark, and in the ark you will put the Testimony that I will give you. 22 And I will appoint My Memra to meet you there;⁠a and I will speak with you from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two Cherubim that are on the Ark of the Testimony, all that I will command you for the sons of Israel. 23 And you will make a Table of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. 24 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a crown of gold all around it. 25 And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth high, and make a crown of gold for its rim all around. 26 And you shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings on the four corners at its four legs. 27 The rings shall be close to the rim, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 28 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be carried by them. 29 And you shall make its dishes and its bowls, its jars and its cups with which the drink offerings are poured; you shall make them of pure gold. 30 And you shall set the Bread of the Presence on the table before Me continually. 31 And you shall make a Lampstand; you shall make the lampstand of pure hammered gold; its base and its shaft, its cups, apples, and lilies shall be of one piece with it. 32 And six branches shall come out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand from one side, and three branches of the lampstand from the other side. 33 Three cups shaped on one branch, with apple and lily, and three cups shaped on another branch, with apple and lily; so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. 34 And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups, shaped with apples and lilies; 35 an apple under two of the branches, and an apple under two more, and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. 36 Their apples and their branches shall be of one piece with it, all of it hammered work of pure gold. 37 And you shall make its seven lamps, and light its lamps so that they shine toward its front. 38 And its tongs and its pans shall be made of pure gold. 39 It shall be made, with all these vessels, from a talent of pure gold. 40 And see that you make them according to their pattern, which was shown on the mountain.

The Tent and Its Partitions

1 And you shall make the Tabernacle of ten curtains of fine twisted linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with figures of cherubim; you shall make them the work of a skilled craftsman. 2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall have the same measure. 3 Five curtains shall be joined to one another, and the other five curtains joined to one another. 4 And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and do the same on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. 5 You shall make fifty loops on the one curtain, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set, so that the loops are opposite one another. 6 And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and join the curtains to one another with the clasps, so that it may be one Tabernacle. 7 And you shall make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains. 8 The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains shall have the same measure. 9 And you shall join five curtains together by themselves, and six curtains together by themselves, and you shall fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tabernacle. 10 And you shall make fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set. 11 And you shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and join the tent together so that it may be one. 12 And the part that remains over from the tabernacle curtains, namely the half curtain that is left over, shall hang down over the back of the tabernacle. 13 And the cubit on one side and the cubit on the other side, which remain over in the length of the tabernacle curtains, shall hang down over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and that, to cover it. 14 And you shall make a covering for the tabernacle of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of purple skins above that. 15 And you shall make the upright boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood. 16 Each board shall be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 17 Each board shall have two tenons, set opposite one another; you shall do this for all the boards of the tabernacle. 18 And you will make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side. 19 And you will make forty bases of silver under the twenty boards; two bases under one board for its two tenons, and two bases under another board for its two tenons. 20 And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards 21 and their forty bases of silver; two bases under one board, and two bases under another. 22 And for the back of the tabernacle, westward, you shall make six boards. 23 And you shall make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the back; 24 and they shall be joined together at the bottom, and likewise joined together at the top by one ring; so shall it be for both of them; they shall form the two corners. 25 And there shall be eight boards with their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one board, and two bases under another board. 26 And you shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the boards of one side of the tabernacle, 27 and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the back of the tabernacle, toward the west. 28 And the middle bar, halfway up the boards, shall run from end to end. 29 And you shall overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and overlay the bars with gold. 30 And you shall set up the tabernacle according to its plan which was shown to you on the mountain. 31 And you shall make a Veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen; it shall be made by a skilled craftsman, with figures of cherubim. 32 And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, set on four bases of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil under the clasps, and bring the Ark of the Testimony in there, inside the veil; and the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. 34 And you shall put the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Testimony in the Holy of Holies. 35 And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, and you shall put the table on the north side. 36 And you shall make a screen for the entrance of the tabernacle of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer; 37 and you shall make five pillars of acacia for the screen, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold; and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them.

The Altar, Courtyard, and Lamps

1 And you shall make the Altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height three cubits. 2 And you shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 And make its pots for removing the ashes, and its shovels, and its basins, and its forks, and its fire pans; make all its vessels of bronze. 4 And make a grating for it, a network of bronze, and make four rings of bronze on the network at its four corners, 5 and put it under the ledge of the altar below, so that the net extends halfway up the altar. 6 And make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze; 7 and the poles shall be put into the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8 Make it hollow, with boards; as it was shown to you on the mountain, so shall they make it. 9 And you shall make the Court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have curtains of fine twisted linen a hundred cubits long for one side. 10 And its pillars shall be twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. 11 And likewise for the north side there shall be curtains a hundred cubits long, and their pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. 12 And for the width of the court on the west side there shall be curtains of fifty cubits, with their pillars ten and their bases ten. 13 And the width of the court on the east side, toward the sunrise, shall be fifty cubits, 14 and fifteen cubits of curtains on one side,⁠a with their pillars three and their bases three. 15 And on the other side fifteen cubits of curtains, with their pillars three and their bases three. 16 And for the gate of the court there shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer, with their pillars four and their bases four. 17 All the pillars around the court shall be joined with bands of silver; their hooks shall be of silver and their bases of bronze. 18 The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, and the width fifty, and the height five cubits, of fine twisted linen, and their bases of bronze. 19 All the vessels of the tabernacle for all its service, and all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court shall be of bronze. 20 And you shall command the sons of Israel to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, so that the lamps may burn continually. 21 In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord; it is a perpetual statute throughout the generations of the sons of Israel.

Priestly Clothing

1 And you, bring near to you Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the sons of Israel, so that they may minister before Me: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron. 2 And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for splendor. 3 And speak with all the skilled whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him to minister before Me. 4 And these are the garments which they shall make: the breastplate, and the ephod, and the robe, and the checkered tunic, the turban, and the sash; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and for his sons to minister before Me. 5 And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen. 6 And they shall make the Ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen, the work of a skilled craftsman. 7 It shall have two shoulder pieces joined to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. 8 And its decorated band, which is on it, shall be of the same work, of one piece with it, of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen. 9 And you shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel. 10 Six of their names on one stone, and the six remaining names on the other stone, in the order of their birth. 11 With the work of a craftsman in precious stones, in clear writing, like the engraving of a signet ring, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; you shall set them in settings of gold. 12 And you shall put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial. 13 And you shall make settings of gold; 14 and two chains of pure gold, braided like cords, you shall make of twisted work, and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings. 15 And you shall make the Breastplate of Judgment, the work of a skilled craftsman; you shall make it like the work of the ephod; you shall make it of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen. 16 It shall be square and folded double, a span long and a span wide; 17 and you shall set in it a full setting of stones: four rows of precious stones; the first row, carnelian, topaz and emerald, the first row; 18 the second row, carbuncle, sapphire, and onyx; 19 and the third row, jacinth, agate, and amethyst; 20 and the fourth row, chrysolite, beryl, and jasper; they shall be set in gold in their fittings. 21 And the stones shall correspond to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, in clear writing like the engraving of a signet ring, each according to his name, for the twelve tribes. 22 And you shall make on the breastplate corded chains of twisted work of pure gold, 23 and two rings of gold on the breastplate, and you shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 24 And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate; 25 and the two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod at its front. 26 And you shall make two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, on the inner side next to the ephod. 27 And you shall make two other rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder pieces of the ephod below, at its front, near its seam, above the band of the ephod. 28 And they shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a cord of blue, so that it is above the band of the ephod, and the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod. 29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he goes into the sanctuary, as a continual memorial before the Lord. 30 And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim;⁠a and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually. 31 And you shall make the Robe of the ephod all of blue. 32 And its opening for the head shall be in the middle of it, folded over inward; its opening shall have a binding all around, the work of a weaver, like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it is not torn. 33 And on its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, with bells of gold between them all around. 34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe. 35 And it shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the sanctuary before the Lord and when he comes out, so that he does not die. 36 And you shall make a Diadem of pure gold, and engrave on it in clear writing, HOLY TO THE LORD; 37 and you shall fasten it on a cord of blue, so that it may be on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban. 38 And it shall be on Aaron's forehead, so that Aaron may bear the guilt of the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate, all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be accepted before the Lord. 39 And you shall weave the tunic of fine linen, and make the turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of an embroiderer. 40 And for Aaron's sons you shall make tunics, and make sashes for them, and you shall make caps for them, for glory and for splendor. 41 And you shall dress Aaron your brother and his sons in them, and anoint them, and ordain them, and consecrate them, so that they may minister before Me. 42 And you shall make them linen undergarments to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs. 43 And they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the sanctuary, so that they do not incur guilt and die. This shall be an everlasting statute for him and for his descendants after him.

The Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

1 And this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to minister before Me: take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2 and unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of wheat flour. 3 And you shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. 4 And you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water. 5 And you shall take the garments and dress Aaron in the tunic, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod and the breastplate, and fasten the band of the ephod on him. 6 And you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy diadem on the turban. 7 And you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head, and anoint him. 8 And you shall bring his sons near and dress them in tunics, 9 and fasten sashes on them, Aaron and his sons, and put the caps on them; and the priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual statute. And you shall offer the offering of Aaron and the offering of his sons. 10 And you shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 And you shall slaughter the bull before the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 12 And you shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and you shall pour out all the blood that remains at the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all the fat that covers the inner parts, and the lobe that is on the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the meat of the bull, its skin, and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering. 15 And you shall take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 16 And you shall slaughter the ram, and take its blood and sprinkle it all around on the altar. 17 And you shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its inner parts and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head. 18 And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering before the Lord, to be accepted with favor,⁠a an offering before the Lord. 19 And you shall take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20 And you shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's ear and on the lobe of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot; and you shall sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. 21 And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, and on his sons and on his sons' garments with him; and he shall be consecrated, he and his garments, and his sons and his sons' garments with him. 22 And you shall take from the ram the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the inner parts, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and the right thigh, for it is a ram of offering; 23 and one loaf of bread, and one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord; 24 and you shall put all of them in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and lift them up as a lifted offering before the Lord. 25 And you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, so that they may be received with favor before the Lord; it is an offering before the Lord. 26 And you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's offerings, and lift it up as a lifted offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion. 27 And you shall consecrate the breast of the lifted offering and the thigh of the contribution, which is lifted up and which is set apart from the ram of offering, from what is Aaron's and from what is his sons'; 28 and it shall belong to Aaron and to his sons as a perpetual statute from the sons of Israel, for it is a contribution; and it shall be a contribution from the sons of Israel from their holy sacrifices, their contribution before the Lord. 29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall belong to his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to offer their offerings in them. 30 The son who is anointed priest in his place, and who goes into the Tent of Meeting to minister in the sanctuary, shall wear them for seven days. 31 And you shall take the ram of offering and boil its meat in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 33 And they shall eat those things by which atonement was made when they were offered, to consecrate them; but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy. 34 And if any part of the meat of the offerings or of the bread remains until morning, you shall burn what remains with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. 35 And you shall do this to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; for seven days you shall offer their offerings. 36 And every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement on it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it. 37 For seven days you shall make atonement on the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whoever touches the altar shall be consecrated.

Daily Offerings and the Divine Presence

38 And this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old, every day, continually. 39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. 40 And with the first lamb you shall offer a tenth of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 41 And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; you shall offer it with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, to be received with favor, an offering before the Lord. 42 It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tent of Meeting before the Lord, where I will appoint My Memra to meet you, to speak with you there. 43 And I will appoint My Memra there for the sons of Israel, and I will be sanctified by My glory. 44 And I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will sanctify Aaron and his sons to minister before Me. 45 And I will cause My Shekinah to dwell among the sons of Israel, and I will be their God.⁠b 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might cause My Shekinah to dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

Preparations for Worship in the Sanctuary

1 And you shall make an altar on which to burn fragrant incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2 A cubit long and a cubit wide, it shall be square, and two cubits high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. 3 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns. And you shall make a crown of gold all around it, 4 and you shall make two rings of gold for it under its crown, on its two sides, on both sides of it; and they shall be holders for the poles by which to carry it. 5 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 And you shall put it in front of the veil that is over the ark of the testimony, in front of the Mercy Seat that is over the testimony, where I will appoint My Memra to meet you. 7 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. 8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a continual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. 10 And Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy before the Lord. 11 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 12 When you take a census of the sons of Israel according to their number, each man shall give a ransom for his life before the Lord when you count them, so that there may be no death among them when you count them. 13 This is what they shall give: everyone who passes over to those who are counted, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary, with twenty gerahs to the shekel, half a shekel as an offering set apart before the Lord. 14 Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering before the Lord. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering before the Lord to make atonement for your lives. 16 And you shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel, and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; and it shall be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for your lives. 17 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 18 You shall make a Basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it. 20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they do not die; or when they come near the altar to minister, to offer an offering before the Lord, 21 they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die. And it shall be an everlasting statute for them, for him and for his descendants throughout their generations. 22 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 23 Take also for yourself the finest spices: pure myrrh,⁠a five hundred shekels; and fragrant cinnamon, half as much, two hundred and fifty shekels by weight; and fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty shekels; 24 and cassia, five hundred shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil; 25 and make of it a holy anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 And with it you shall anoint the Tent of Meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its vessels, and the lampstand and its vessels, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, and the basin and its stand; 29 and you shall consecrate them, so that they may be most holy; whoever touches them shall be consecrated. 30 And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them to minister before Me. 31 And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on anyone's body, and you shall not make anything like it in its composition; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever blends any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people. 34 And the Lord said to Moses, Take for yourself spices: stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense, equal amounts of each; 35 and you shall make of it incense, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. 36 And you shall grind some of it very fine, and put some of it before the testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will appoint My Memra to meet you; it shall be most holy to you. 37 And the incense that you shall make, you shall not make for yourselves in the same composition; it shall be holy to you before the Lord. 38 Whoever makes any like it, to enjoy its smell, shall be cut off from his people.

Craftsmen for the Sanctuary

1 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 2 Look, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the spirit of prophecy from the Lord's presence,⁠a with wisdom, and with understanding, and with knowledge, and with skill to excel in every kind of work, 4 to teach craftsmen to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, 5 and in cutting precious stones for setting, and in carving wood, to do every kind of work. 6 And I, look, I have appointed with him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all who are skilled, so that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 the Tent of Meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the Mercy Seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent; 8 and the table and its vessels, and the pure lampstand and all its vessels, and the altar of incense, 9 and the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, and the basin and its stand; 10 and the garments for ministry, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons for ministering; 11 and the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary; they shall make them according to all that I have commanded you.

The Sabbath and the Tablets

12 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 13 And you, speak with the sons of Israel, saying, You shall surely keep My Sabbaths; for it is a sign between My Memra and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 14 And you shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you; whoever profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 For six days work shall be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, the holy Sabbath before the Lord; whoever does work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. 16 And the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a statute forever. 17 It is a sign between My Memra and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. 18 And when He had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, inscribed with the finger of the Lord.⁠b

The Golden Calf

1 But the people saw that Moses was delaying to come down from the mountain; and the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, Get up, make us idols who will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 2 And Aaron said to them, Take off the gold earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. 3 And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he took the gold from their hands, shaped it with an engraving tool, and made it into a cast-metal calf. And they said, These are your idols, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 5 And Aaron saw it, and built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow there shall be a feast before the Lord. 6 And they got up early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices; and the people reclined to eat and drink,⁠a and got up to celebrate. 7 And the Lord spoke with Moses, Go down, for your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves; 8 they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a cast-metal calf, and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, and have said, These are your idols, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, It is known before Me that this people is stiff-necked. 10 And now stop your prayer before Me, so that My anger may burn against them, and I will destroy them, and I will make you into a great people. 11 But Moses prayed before the Lord his God, and said, Why, Lord, does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, He led them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth? Turn from the fierceness of Your anger, and relent from the harm You have threatened to do to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your Memra, and to whom You said, I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall possess it forever. 14 And the Lord relented from the harm which He had threatened to do to His people.

Moses Returns to the Camp

15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand: the tablets were inscribed on both sides; they were inscribed on the front and on the back. 16 And the tablets were the work of the Lord, and the writing was the writing of the Lord, written clearly on the tablets. 17 And Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, and he said to Moses, There is a sound of war in the camp. 18 But he said, It is not the sound of men who are winning, nor the sound of the weak who are being defeated; it is the sound of people reveling that I hear. 19 And as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf that they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it on the surface of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it. 21 And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Do not let my lord's anger burn: you know the people, that they are inclined to evil. 23 And they said to me, Make us idols who will go before us: for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 24 And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let him take it off and give it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out. 25 And Moses saw that the people had become worthless; for Aaron had made them worthless, giving them a bad name for generations;⁠b 26 and Moses stood at the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever fears the Lord, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate through the camp, and each kill his brother, and each his companion, and each his neighbor. 28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses said, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 And Moses said, Bring an offering today before the Lord with your hands, each man at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that blessings may come upon you today.

Moses Prays for the People

30 And on the next day Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin; but now I will go up before the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. 31 And Moses returned before the Lord and said in his prayer, This people has committed a great sin, for they have made idols of gold for themselves. 32 But now, please forgive their sin! If not, erase me of Your Book which You have written. 33 And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned before Me, I will erase of My Book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place of which I have told you: look, My Angel shall go before you; and on the day that I punish, I will punish them for their sin. 35 And the Lord struck the people because they had worshiped the calf which Aaron made.

The Journey and the Divine Presence

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Go, go down from here, you and the people you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To your descendants I will give it. 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, 3 to a land producing milk and honey: for I will not remove My Shekinah from you,⁠a because you are a stiff-necked people, or I would destroy you on the way. 4 And the people heard these evil words, and mourned, and no one put on his usual ornaments. 5 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people; if I removed My Shekinah from among you for one hour, I would destroy you. And now take off your ornaments, and it will be revealed before Me what I shall do with you. 6 And the children of Israel removed their usual ornaments on their return from Mount Horeb. 7 And Moses took a tent and pitched it for himself outside the camp, at a distance from the camp, and called it the Tent of the House of Study: and everyone who sought instruction from the Lord's presence went out to the Tent of the House of Study outside the camp.⁠b 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose up and stood, each man at the door of his tent, and watched Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 And when Moses had gone into the tent, the pillar of the Cloud came down and stood at the door of the tent, and He spoke with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the pillar of the Cloud standing at the door of the tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped, each man at the door of his tent. 11 And the Lord spoke with Moses word to word, as a man speaks with his companion. And he returned to the camp; but his assistant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.

Moses Seeks Assurance

12 And Moses said before the Lord, See, You have said to me, Bring this people up; but You have not let me know whom You will send with me; yet You have said, I have chosen you by name, and you have found mercy before Me. 13 And now, if I have found mercy before You, please show me Your good way, so that I may know Your kindness and find mercy before You, and make it known before You that this nation is Your people. 14 And He said, My Shekinah shall go, and I will give you rest. 15 And he said before Him, If Your Shekinah does not go among us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I and Your people have found mercy before You, unless Your Shekinah goes up with us, to set us apart, distinguishing me and Your people from every people on the face of the earth? 17 And the Lord said to Moses, This thing that you have spoken I will also do, because you have found mercy before Me, and I have chosen you by name. 18 And he said, Please show me Your Glory! 19 And He said, I will make all My Goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and have mercy on whom I will have mercy. 20 And He said, You cannot see the Face of My Shekinah; for no one can see Me and live.⁠c 21 And the Lord said, Look, there is a place prepared before Me, and you shall stand on the rock, 22 and when My Glory passes by, I will put you in a cave in the rock, and My Memra shall shield you until I have passed by; 23 and I will remove the guidance of My Glory, and you shall see what is behind Me, but what is before Me shall not be seen.

New Tablets and the Renewal of the Covenant

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 And be ready in the morning, and go up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and stand there before Me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall go up with you; let no one be seen anywhere on the mountain, and let no sheep or oxen graze in front of that mountain. 4 And he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones; and Moses got up early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took two tablets of stone in his hand. 5 And the Lord was revealed in the cloud, and He stood with him there, and He proclaimed the Name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord made His Shekinah pass before his face, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping goodness for thousands of generations, forgiving iniquity and rebellion and sin. He forgives those who return to His Torah,⁠a but does not let those who do not return go unpunished; punishing the guilt of the fathers on rebellious children and children's children, to the third and the fourth generation. 8 And Moses hurried, and bowed down to the ground and worshiped. 9 And he said, If I have now found mercy before You, Lord, please let the Shekinah of the Lord go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people; but forgive our guilt and our sin, and take us as Your possession. 10 And He said, Look, I am making a covenant: before all your people I will do wonders that have never been created in all the earth or among any of the peoples; and all the peoples among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord; for what I will do with you is awesome. 11 Observe what I command you today. Look, I will drive out ahead of you the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, or it will become a stumbling block among you: 13 but you shall destroy their altars, and break their pillars, and cut down their sacred groves; 14 for you shall not bow down to the idols of the peoples; for the Lord, whose Name is Zealous, is a zealous God. 15 Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, or they will go astray after their idols and offer sacrifices to their idols, and they will invite you, and you will eat of their sacrifices, 16 and you will take some of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters will go astray after their idols and make your sons go astray after their idols. 17 You shall not make cast-metal gods for yourself. 18 You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt. 19 All that opens the womb is Mine; all the males of your cattle you shall sanctify, the firstborn of oxen and of sheep. 20 But the firstborn of a donkey you may redeem with a lamb; and if you do not redeem it, you shall destroy it. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. And no one shall appear before Me empty-handed. 21 For six days you shall labor, and on the seventh day you shall rest; in the time of sowing and in harvest you shall rest. 22 And you shall keep the feast of Weeks, of the first of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Master of the World, the Lord God of Israel. 24 For I will drive out the nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times a year. 25 You shall not offer the blood of My Passover with leaven, nor shall the fat of the sacrifices of the Passover feast be left outside the altar until morning. 26 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the sanctuary of the Lord your God. You shall not eat meat with milk. 27 And the Lord said to Moses, Write down these statements, for in accordance with these statements I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.⁠b 28 And he was there before the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water; and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.

Moses Returns with a Radiant Face

29 And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses' hand, as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know how great the splendor of the glory of his face had become while He spoke with him. 30 And Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, and look, the splendor of the glory of his face was great, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation came back to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 And afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out. And he came out and told the sons of Israel what he had been commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the splendor of the glory of Moses' face was great; and Moses put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.

The Sabbath and Offerings for the Sanctuary

1 And Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel and said to them, These are the things which the Lord has commanded you to do. 2 For six days work shall be done, but the seventh day shall be holy to you, a Sabbath of rest before the Lord: whoever does work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall not light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day. 4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, saying, 5 Take from among you an offering before the Lord; let everyone whose heart is willing bring the offering before the Lord: gold, and silver, and bronze, 6 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 7 and rams' skins dyed red, and purple skins, and acacia wood; 8 and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 9 and onyx stones and stones for setting in the ephod and in the breastplate. 10 And let all the skilled among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded: 11 the tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; 12 the ark and its poles, the Mercy Seat, and the veil of the screen; 13 the table and its poles and all its vessels, and the Bread of the Presence; 14 and the lampstand for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15 and the altar of incense and its poles, and the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, and all its vessels; the basin and its stand; 17 the curtains of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court; 18 the pegs of the tabernacle, and the pegs of the court and their cords; 19 the garments for ministry, for ministering in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons for ministering. 20 And all the congregation of the sons of Israel went out from Moses' presence. 21 And they came, everyone whose heart moved him and everyone whose spirit made him willing, and brought their offering before the Lord for the work of the Tent of Meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 And they came, men and women alike, all who were willing of heart, and brought brooches and earrings and rings and armlets, all kinds of gold jewelry; every man who presented an offering of gold before the Lord; 23 and every man who had blue, or purple, or scarlet, or fine linen, or goats' hair, or rams' skins dyed red, or purple skins, brought them. 24 Everyone who could present an offering of silver or bronze brought it as the offering before the Lord; and everyone who had acacia wood for any work of the service brought it. 25 And every skilled woman spun with her hands, and brought what she had spun, the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. 26 And all the women whose hearts moved them with skill spun the goats' hair. 27 And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones for setting in the ephod and the breastplate; 28 and the spice, and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29 Every man and woman whose heart moved them to bring something for all the work which the Lord had commanded through Moses to be done, the children of Israel brought as a freewill offering before the Lord.

The Craftsmen and Their Skills

30 And Moses said to the sons of Israel, See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and He has filled him with the spirit of prophecy from the Lord's presence, with wisdom, with understanding, and with knowledge, and with every kind of craft, 32 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, 33 and in cutting precious stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every kind of skilled craft. 34 And He has put it in his heart to teach, both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with skill to do every kind of work of the craftsman, the designer, and the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, of those who do every kind of work and those who devise designs.

The Work Begins

1 And Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skilled man to whom the Lord had given wisdom and understanding to know how to do every kind of work for the service of the sanctuary, did it according to all that the Lord had commanded. 2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skilled man in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart moved him to come near to do the work. 3 And they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to do it. And they kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning. 4 And all the skilled men who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work that he was doing. 5 And they spoke with Moses, saying, The people are bringing much more than enough for the work which the Lord has commanded to be done. 6 And Moses gave a command, and they made a proclamation throughout the camp, saying, Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the sanctuary: and the people stopped bringing. 7 For what had been made was enough for all the work to be done, and more than enough.

Making the Tent

8 And all the skilled among those who did the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with figures of cherubim; he made them the work of an embroiderer. 9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains had the same measure. 10 And he joined five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he joined to one another. 11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set; he did the same on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. 12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set; the loops were opposite one another. 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and joined the curtains to one another with the clasps, and the tabernacle became one. 14 And he made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains. 15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains had the same measure. 16 And he joined five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set. 18 And he made fifty clasps of bronze to join the tent together, so that it might be one. 19 And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of purple skins above that. 20 And he made the upright boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood. 21 Each board was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 22 Each board had two tenons, set opposite one another; he did this for all the boards of the tabernacle. 23 And he made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side. 24 And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty boards, two bases under one board for its two tenons, and two bases under another board for its two tenons. 25 And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards, 26 and their forty bases of silver; two bases under one board, and two bases under another board. 27 And for the back of the tabernacle, westward, he made six boards; 28 and he made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the back. 29 And they were joined together at the bottom, and joined together at the top by one ring; he did this with both of them at the two corners. 30 And there were eight boards with their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases under each board. 31 And he made bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of one side of the tabernacle, 32 and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle at the back, westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to run through halfway up the boards from end to end. 34 And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold. 35 And he made the Veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen; he made it the work of an embroiderer, with figures of cherubim. 36 And he made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold, with their hooks of gold, and he cast four bases of silver for them. 37 And he made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, the work of an embroiderer, 38 and its five pillars with their hooks; and he overlaid their tops and their bands with gold, and he made their five bases of bronze.

Making the Sanctuary Furnishings

1 And Bezalel made the Ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 2 And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a crown of gold all around it. 3 And he cast four rings of gold for it on its four corners, two rings on one side of it and two rings on its other side. 4 And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 5 And he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark. 6 And he made the Mercy Seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 7 And he made two cherubim; he made them of hammered gold, at the two ends of the Mercy Seat. 8 One cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end of the Mercy Seat; he made the cherubim of one piece with it at its two ends. 9 And the cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the Mercy Seat with their wings; and their faces were toward each other; the faces of the cherubim were toward the Mercy Seat. 10 And he made the Table of acacia wood; two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. 11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made a crown of gold all around it, 12 and he made a rim a handbreadth high all around it, and made a crown of gold for its rim all around. 13 And he cast four rings of gold for it, and put the rings on the four corners at its four legs. 14 The rings were close to the rim, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 15 And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table. 16 And he made the vessels that were to be on the table, its dishes and its bowls and its jars and the cups with which drink offerings are poured, of pure gold. 17 And he made the Lampstand of pure gold; he made the lampstand of hammered work; its base, its shaft, its cups, its apples, and its lilies were of one piece with it. 18 And six branches came out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand from one side, and three branches of the lampstand from the other side. 19 Three cups shaped on one branch, with an apple and a lily, and three cups shaped on another branch, with an apple and a lily; so for the six branches that came out of the lampstand. 20 And on the lampstand itself were four cups shaped with its apples and its lilies. 21 An apple under two of its branches, and an apple under two more of its branches, and an apple under the last two of its branches, for the six branches that came out of it. 22 Their apples and their branches were of one piece with it, all of it one hammered work of pure gold. 23 And he made its seven lamps, and its tongs, and its pans, of pure gold; 24 he made it and all its vessels from a talent of pure gold. 25 And he made the Altar of Incense of acacia wood; a cubit long and a cubit wide, square, and two cubits high; its horns were of one piece with it. 26 And he overlaid it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and he made a crown of gold all around it. 27 And he made two rings of gold for it under its crown, on its two sides, as holders for the poles by which to carry it. 28 And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 29 And he made the holy anointing oil and the pure fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.

Making the Altar and Courtyard

1 And he made the Altar of Burnt Offering of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide, square, and three cubits high. 2 And he made its horns on its four corners; its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. 3 And he made all the vessels of the altar: the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, and the forks, and the fire pans; he made all its vessels of bronze. 4 And he made for the altar a grating of bronze network, under its ledge below, reaching halfway up. 5 And he cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles. 6 And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 And he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, to carry it by them; he made it hollow, with boards. 8 And he made the Basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the women who come to pray at the entrance⁠a of the Tent of Meeting. 9 And he made the court: for the south side the curtains of the court were of fine twisted linen, a hundred cubits, 10 with their pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. 11 And for the north side, curtains of a hundred cubits, with their pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. 12 And for the west side, curtains of fifty cubits, with their pillars ten and their bases ten; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. 13 And for the east side, toward the sunrise, fifty cubits. 14 The curtains on one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with their pillars three and their bases three. 15 And on the other side of the gate of the court, on both sides, curtains of fifteen cubits, with their pillars three and their bases three. 16 All the curtains around the court were of fine twisted linen. 17 And the bases for the pillars were of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver, and the overlay of their tops was of silver, and all the pillars of the court had bands of silver. 18 And the screen for the gate of the court was the work of an embroiderer, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen; and it was twenty cubits long, and five cubits high in its width, corresponding to the curtains of the court. 19 And their pillars were four and their bases four, of bronze; their hooks were of silver, and the overlay of their tops and their bands were of silver. 20 And all the pegs of the tabernacle and of the court all around were of bronze.

The Accounting of Materials

21 These are the accounts of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which were counted according to the Memra of Moses,⁠b the service of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. 22 And Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses; 23 and with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, a woodworker and a designer and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen. 24 All the gold that was used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary, the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 And the silver of those of the congregation who were counted was a hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 the weight was set per head, half a shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men. 27 And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil, a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent for each base. 28 And with the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their tops, and made bands for them. 29 And the bronze of the offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels. 30 And with it he made the bases for the door of the Tent of Meeting, and the bronze altar, and the bronze grating that belonged to it, and all the vessels of the altar, 31 and the bases of the court all around, and the bases of the gate of the court, and all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs of the court all around.

Making the Priestly Clothing

1 And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet they made the garments for ministry, for ministering in the sanctuary, and they made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord commanded Moses. 2 And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen. 3 And they hammered out the gold into thin sheets and cut them into threads, to work them into the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen, the work of a skilled craftsman. 4 They made joined shoulder pieces for it, attached at its two edges. 5 And the decorated band for fastening it, which was on it, was of one piece with it and of the same work, of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 6 And they worked the onyx stones, set in settings of gold, engraved in clear writing with the names of the sons of Israel. 7 And he put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses. 8 And he made the Breastplate, the work of a skilled craftsman, like the work of the ephod, of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen. 9 It was square; they made the breastplate folded double, a span long and a span wide, folded double. 10 And they set in it four rows of precious stones: the first row, carnelian, topaz, and emerald, the first row; 11 the second row, carbuncle, sapphire, and onyx; 12 and the third row, jacinth, agate, and amethyst; 13 and the fourth row, chrysolite, beryl, and jasper; they were set in settings of gold in their fittings. 14 And the stones corresponded to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names, written clearly like the engraving of a signet ring, each according to his name, for the twelve tribes. 15 And they made on the breastplate corded chains, braided work of pure gold. 16 And they made two settings of gold and two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 17 And they put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate, 18 and the two ends of the two cords they attached to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod at its front. 19 And they made two rings of gold and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, on the inner side next to the ephod. 20 And they made two rings of gold and put them on the two shoulder pieces of the ephod below, at its front, near its seam, above the band of the ephod. 21 And they bound the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a cord of blue, so that it was on the band of the ephod and the breastplate did not come loose from the ephod, as the Lord commanded Moses. 22 And he made the Robe of the ephod, the work of a weaver, all of blue. 23 And the opening of the robe was in the middle of it, like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding around its opening, so that it would not be torn. 24 And they made on the hem of the robe pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet, twisted. 25 And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates all around the hem of the robe, between the pomegranates; 26 a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe, for ministering, as the Lord commanded Moses. 27 And they made the tunics of fine linen, the work of a weaver, for Aaron and for his sons, 28 and the turban of fine linen, and the splendid caps of fine linen, and the linen undergarments of fine twisted linen; 29 and the sash of fine twisted linen, and blue and purple and scarlet, the work of an embroiderer, as the Lord commanded Moses. 30 And they made the plate of the holy diadem of pure gold, and wrote on it in clear writing, like the engraving of a signet ring, HOLY TO THE LORD. 31 And they fastened a cord of blue to it, to attach it to the turban above, as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Completed Work Is Brought to Moses

32 So all the work of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was finished; and the sons of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; that is what they did. 33 And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its furnishings, its clasps, its boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its bases; 34 and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of purple skins, and the veil of the screen; 35 the ark of the testimony and its poles, and the Mercy Seat; 36 the table and all its vessels, and the Bread of the Presence; 37 the pure lampstand and its lamps, the lamps set in order, and all its vessels, and the oil for the light; 38 and the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the door of the tent; 39 the bronze altar and its bronze grating, its poles and all its vessels, the basin and its stand; 40 the curtains of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court, its cords and its pegs, and all the vessels for the service of the tabernacle, for the Tent of Meeting; 41 the garments for ministry, for ministering in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons for ministering: 42 the sons of Israel did all the work according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses. 43 And Moses saw all the work, and look, they had done it as the Lord had commanded; that is how they had done it; and Moses blessed them.

Setting Up the Tabernacle

1 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 2 On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. 3 And you shall put the ark of the testimony in it, and screen the ark with the veil; 4 and you shall bring in the table and set out its arrangement. And you shall bring in the lampstand and light its lamps. 5 And you shall put the golden altar of incense before the ark of the testimony, and put up the screen for the door of the tabernacle. 6 And you shall put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. 7 And you shall put the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 8 And you shall set up the court all around, and hang the screen at the gate of the court. 9 And you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it shall be holy. 10 And you shall anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, and consecrate the altar; and the altar shall be most holy. 11 And you shall anoint the basin and its stand, and consecrate it. 12 And you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water, 13 and you shall dress Aaron in the holy garments, and anoint him, and consecrate him, so that he may minister before Me. 14 And you shall bring his sons and dress them in tunics, 15 and anoint them, as you anointed their father, so that they may minister before Me; and their anointing shall be for them a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations. 16 And Moses did according to all that the Lord commanded him; that is what he did. 17 And in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up. 18 And Moses set up the tabernacle, and put down its bases, and set up its boards, and put in its bars, and set up its pillars; 19 and he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent on top of it, as the Lord commanded Moses. 20 And he took the testimony and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and put the Mercy Seat on top of the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and hung the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as the Lord commanded Moses. 22 And he put the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil. 23 And he set the rows of bread in order on it before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. 24 And he put the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. 25 And he lit the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. 26 And he put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting before the veil, 27 and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord commanded Moses. 28 And he put up the screen for the door of the tabernacle, 29 and he set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 30 And he put the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing. 31 And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet from it. 32 When they went into the Tent of Meeting, and when they came near the altar, they washed themselves, as the Lord commanded Moses. 33 And he set up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung the screen for the gate of the court: and Moses finished the work.

The Glory and the Cloud

34 And the Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to go into the Tent of Meeting, because the Cloud rested upon it, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 And whenever the Cloud was lifted up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel set out, in all their journeys. 37 But if the Cloud was not lifted up, they did not set out until the day it was lifted up. 38 For the Cloud of the Glory of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was a vision of fire in it by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel, in all their journeys.