From the Greek Septuagint text as was used by First Century Christians

Chapter 1

¹ These are the names of the Sons of Israel that came to Egypt with their father Jacob and their families: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, ³ IsSachar, ZebuLun, BenJamin, ⁴ Dan, NaphTali, Gad, and Asher. ⁵ Then [there was] Joseph [who lived] in Egypt, so, altogether there were seventy-five of these people who [descended] from Jacob.

⁶ [In time], Joseph, his brothers, and that entire generation died. ⁷ But the children of Israel grew and multiplied into a large and strong [nation], and the land helped them to grow.

⁸ Then a new king became the ruler over Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his nation: ‘{Look!} The children of Israel have [grown tremendously] and they’re now more powerful than we are. ¹⁰ So, let’s be smooth in the way we deal with them, because, if they continue to grow and then we find ourselves at war, they could side with our enemies. And after they beat us in war, they will leave our land!’

¹¹ So he appointed [governors] over them, whose [job] was to make them do hard labor; and they built fortified cities for Pharaoh, including Pithom, Ramses, and On (the City of the Sun). ¹² But the more they held [the Israelites] down, the faster they grew.

Well, they multiplied so much and grew so strong that the Egyptians hated the children of Israel. ¹³ So the Egyptians became tyrants over Israel ¹⁴ and made their lives unbearable by forcing them to work hard making bricks from clay and working in the fields… whatever needed to be done. And they were dealt with violently.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt told the midwives who [served] the Hebrews (one was ZipPorah and the other was Phua), ¹⁶ ‘When you serve as midwives to the Hebrew women and they’re about to give birth, kill [the baby] if it’s a boy, but leave it alone if it’s a girl.’

¹⁷ However, the midwives feared God and wouldn’t do what the king of Egypt told them… they allowed the male [babies] to live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and asked them, ‘Why haven’t you [killed] the male [babies]?’

¹⁹ And the midwives answered Pharaoh, saying, ‘Hebrew women aren’t like the women of Egypt, because they give birth before the midwives arrive, so they [already] have their children!’

²⁰ And [as the result], God dealt kindly with the midwives, while the [Israelites] continued to multiply and grow very strong. ²¹ And these midwives who feared God were able to start families.

²² Then Pharaoh told all his people: ‘Whenever a male is born to the Hebrews, you must throw it into the river, but let the females live.’

Chapter 2

¹ Now, there was a certain man of the tribe of Levi who married one of the daughters of [his tribe]. ² Then she got pregnant and gave birth to a male child. And when she saw how beautiful the child was, they hid him for three months. ³ But when they could no longer hide him, his mother got a box for him and coated it with tar, put the child inside, and set it in the mud by the river, ⁴ while his sister watched in the distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe. And as her handmaids were walking along by the river, they saw the box lying in the mud, so she sent a handmaid out to pick it up. ⁶ And when she opened it, she found the baby inside the box, crying. Well Pharaoh’s daughter felt sorry for it and said, ‘This is a Hebrew child.’

⁷ Then [the baby’s] sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter: ‘Would you like me to call a Hebrew [woman] to nurse the child for you?’

⁸ And Pharaoh’s daughter replied, ‘Go!’

So the young woman went and called [her] mother.

⁹ Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to [the mother]: ‘Take care of this child and nurse it for me, and I’ll pay you.’

So, the woman took the child and nursed it. ¹⁰ And after the boy had grown, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. [Pharaoh’s daughter] named him Moses, because she said, ‘I took him from the water.’

¹¹ In time, after Moses had grown, he went to see his brothers, the sons of Israel. And as he was observing how bad things were, he noticed an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew brothers of the children of Israel. ¹² So he looked around and didn’t see anyone, then he bludgeoned the Egyptian and hid [his body] in the sand.

¹³ And on the next day, he noticed two Hebrew men fighting, and he asked the bully, ‘Why are you beating your neighbor?’

¹⁴ And he replied, ‘Who appointed you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’

Well, Moses was stunned, and he thought, ‘If [he knows], then others will know.’ ¹⁵ And when Pharaoh found out about it, he tried to have Moses put to death. So Moses left [the house of] Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. And upon arriving in the land of Midian, he sat down next to a well.

¹⁶ Now, the Priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they were feeding their father Jethro’s sheep nearby. And when they came [to the well] to fill their jugs to water the flock, ¹⁷ some shepherds arrived and [started to] chase them away. So, Moses stood up and protected them, and then he drew water for them and watered their sheep.

¹⁸ And after that, they returned to their home in RaguEl. And their father asked them, ‘Why have you returned so quickly today?’

¹⁹ And they replied, ‘An Egyptian protected us from the shepherds, then he drew water for us and watered our sheep.’

²⁰ So [Jethro] asked his daughters: ‘Where is he… why did you leave the man? Call him here and we’ll [provide a meal for him].’

²¹ Well [after that], Moses developed a good relationship with the man, and [Jethro] gave his daughter ZipPorah to be Moses’ wife. ²² Then she got pregnant and gave birth to a son whom Moses named Gersam, for he said, ‘I’m a visitor in a strange land.’

²³ After some time, the king of Egypt died. But the children of Israel kept groaning and crying because of their hard work. And the cries over their labor ascended to God. ²⁴ [He] heard their groaning and God remembered the Sacred Agreement He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ So, then He [started paying attention] to the children of Israel, and He made Himself known to them.

Chapter 3

¹ Well, Moses had been tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro (the Priest of Midian), and he led the sheep into the desert to the dry mountain (Horeb). ² And there, Jehovah’s messenger appeared to him in a flame that was burning in a bush. He saw the flames in the bush, but [the bush] wasn’t really burning. ³ And Moses said, ‘I’m going to get closer, so I can see this great sight, and see why the bush isn’t being burned!’

⁴ And when the Lord saw him coming closer to look, Jehovah called him from the bush. He said, ‘Moses! Moses!’

And [Moses] asked, ‘What is it?’

⁵ And He said, ‘Don’t come any closer. Take your sandals off, because you’re standing on holy ground.’

⁶ Then He said, ‘I am the God of your ancestors; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

Well at that, Moses turned his face away, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘I’ve seen the hardships that My people are enduring in Egypt, and I’ve heard their cries about their task-masters, so I know what they’re going through. ⁸ Now, I’ve come down here to free them from the Egyptians and to take them out of that land, to a land that is good and has plenty of room… a land that flows with milk and honey. It’s the place where the CanaAnites, Chettites, Amorites, Pherezites, Gergesites, Evites, and Jebusites [live]. ⁹ For, {Look!} the shouting of the children of Israel has now reached Me, and I’ve seen the suffering that the Egyptians are causing them. ¹⁰ So now, come; because I’m going to send you to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and you’re going to bring My people (the children of Israel) out of the land of Egypt.’

¹¹ But Moses asked God: ‘Just who am I that I should go to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and bring the children of Israel out the land?’

¹² And God replied, ‘I will be with you! This [place] is the sign that I’m sending you. So when you bring My people out of Egypt, you must serve God on this mountain.’

¹³ Then Moses said to God: ‘Look, I’ll go to the children of Israel and tell them, The God of our ancestors has sent me to you, but they’re going to ask, What is His name? So, what should I tell them?’

¹⁴ And God told Moses, ‘I am He Who [Proves] to Be! Just tell the children of Israel that He Who [Proves] to Be has sent you.’

¹⁵ Then God said to Moses, ‘Say to the Sons of Israel: Jehovah the God of our ancestors – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – has sent me to you. That’s My Name through the ages and it’s how I should be remembered from generation to generation.

¹⁶ ‘So, go and gather the elders of the children of Israel, then tell them that Jehovah, the God of your ancestors, has appeared to you. He’s the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. [And tell them that] He said, I have looked [down] and [seen] all the bad things that are happening to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ And say, I will take you away from this Egyptian oppression into the land of the CanaAnites, Chettites, Amorites, Pherezites, Gergesites, Evites, and Jebusites… a land that is flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁸ Then they will listen to what you have to say.

‘And then you and the elders of Israel must go to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and tell him: The God of the Hebrews has called us, so we’re going on a three-day journey into the desert to offer a sacrifice to our God.

¹⁹ ‘However I know that Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) won’t let you go [unless he sees] a mighty hand [of power], ²⁰ so I will raise My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I [wish to show] them… and then he will allow you to leave.

²¹ ‘I will also make [My] people look good in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when you escape, you won’t leave empty handed. ²² Women will ask their neighbors and landlords for clothing, and for gold and silver [jewelry], then you will put them on your sons and your daughters, and you will plunder the Egyptians.’

Chapter 4

¹ And Moses asked: ‘But, what if they don’t listen to me and do what I tell them to do? Or, what if they say, God hasn’t appeared to you… what should I say then?’

² And Jehovah asked him: ‘What do you have in your hand?’

He replied: ‘My walking stick.’

³ Then [God] said: ‘Throw it on the ground.’

Well, when he threw it on the ground it became a snake, and Moses ran from it.

⁴ And Jehovah told Moses: ‘Now, reach out and grab it by the tail.’

So [Moses] reached out and grabbed it by the tail, ⁵ and it became a walking stick in his hand again. [And God continued]: ‘That’s why they will believe you when you say that the God of your ancestors has appeared to you… the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.’

⁶ Then Jehovah told him: ‘Now, put your hand inside [your robe and touch] your chest.’ So he reached inside and touched his chest; and when he brought his hand out it was [as white] as snow. ⁷ And [God] said, ‘Now, put your hand back in and touch your chest once more.’ So he reached in and touched his chest, and when he brought it out, its color returned to the regular color of his flesh.

⁸ [And God said], ‘So, if the first sign doesn’t make them listen and believe you, the second sign will. ⁹ And if they still won’t listen to you or believe you after these two signs, then draw some water from the river and pour it on the dry ground, and the river water will turn into blood.’

¹⁰ Then Moses said to Jehovah: ‘I beg you Lord; I’ve never been good at this in the past, and I’m still no good at it since You started talking to your servant… I’m a poor speaker and I talk slowly!’

¹¹ And Jehovah asked Moses: ‘Who gave man his mouth, and who made both those who can hear and the deaf, and those who can see and the blind? Isn’t it I… God? ¹² Now, go on and I will open your mouth and tell you what to say!’

¹³ But Moses said: ‘I beg you Lord, send someone who is more capable!’

¹⁴ Well, this made Jehovah very angry with Moses, so He said: ‘Look; isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he will speak for you. Look! He’s coming to meet you, and when he sees you, he will jump for joy. ¹⁵ Then you must talk to him and put My words in his mouth, and I will open both of your mouths and tell you what to do. ¹⁶ Then he can speak to the people for you. He will be your mouth and you will be the things of God to him. ¹⁷ So, take this walking stick that turned into a snake in your hands and work miracles with it!’

¹⁸ And thereafter, Moses returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said: ‘I‘m going to return to my brothers in Egypt, to see if any are still living.’

And Jethro said to Moses, ‘Go in health.’

Well after some time, the king of Egypt died. ¹⁹ And Jehovah said to Moses (while he was still) in Midian: ‘Go! Leave for Egypt, because those who wanted to kill you are now dead.’

²⁰ So Moses took his wife and children, mounted them on his animals, and returned to Egypt. Moses also carried along his walking stick [with which he had received power] from God.

²¹ And Jehovah said to Moses: ‘When you return to Egypt, look at all the miracles that I’ve given you [the power to perform]. You must do these before Pharaoh. However, I will make him hard hearted and he will refuse to send the people away. ²² Then you must tell Pharaoh, This is what Jehovah has said: Israel is My firstborn; ²³ and I’ve told you to send My people away so they can serve Me. So if you won’t send them away, {Look!} I will kill your firstborn!’

²⁴ Well, [during their journey], a messenger of Jehovah met them along the way at an inn and wanted to kill [his son]. ²⁵ But ZipPorah grabbed a [sharp] stone and cut off her son’s foreskin, and she fell at his feet and said, ‘The blood of my son’s circumcision is flowing!’ ²⁶ So he left, because she said, ‘The blood of my son’s circumcision is flowing.’

²⁷ Then Jehovah told Aaron: ‘Go into the desert to meet Moses.’ So he went and met him at the Mountain of God, and they kissed each other. ²⁸ Then Moses told Aaron everything that Jehovah had said, why he was being sent, and of all the things that he was told to do.

²⁹ So Moses and Aaron went and gathered the elders of the children of Israel. ³⁰ And Aaron told them everything that God had told Moses, and he performed the miracles before the people. ³¹ And the people believed and were happy, because God was visiting the children of Israel and He had seen how they were being oppressed. Then the people bowed to their faces before [God].

Chapter 5

¹ After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him: ‘This is what Jehovah, the God of Israel, said: Send My people away, so they can hold a feast to Me in the desert.’

² And Pharaoh asked, ‘Just who is this Jehovah so that I should have to pay any attention to what He has to say, and that I should send the children of Israel away? I don’t know Jehovah, and I’m not letting Israel go!’

³ Then [Moses and Aaron] said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has called us to Him. So we’re going on a three-day journey into the desert to [offer] sacrifices to our God Jehovah, for we’re afraid that [something might happen to us] and we might die or be murdered.’

⁴ But the king of Egypt told them: ‘Why are you, Moses and Aaron, trying to keep people from doing their work? Now, go back and do your jobs!’

⁵ For Pharaoh said, ‘{Look!} There are a huge number of these people, so we can’t allow them to slack off from doing their work!’

⁶ As the result, Pharaoh gave orders to those who were in charge, to tell their supervisors: ⁷ ‘Don’t give the people any straw for brick-making as you did yesterday and three days ago. Let them gather and carry the straw for themselves, ⁸ but maintain the quota for the daily brick making that they are required to perform… don’t let up on them, because they’re lazy! Why, they came demanding that we allow them to [go out and] make a sacrifice to their God. ⁹ So, make the men’s work much harder, and then they will pay attention to that, instead of to idle chatter!’

¹⁰ Well, the taskmasters and the supervisors acted quickly, and they told the people, ‘This is what Pharaoh says: I’m not going to give you straw anymore. ¹¹ Go get it yourselves! Take it from wherever you can find it… but you must still make the same number of [bricks]!’

¹² So the people were scattered all over the land of Egypt as they gathered stubble for straw. ¹³ And the taskmasters kept pushing them, saying, ‘You aren’t meeting the quotas that you had when [we provided] the straw.’

¹⁴ But then, the supervisors who were assigned over the children of Israel by Pharaoh’s governors were whipped, and they were asked: ‘Why aren’t you meeting your brick-making quotas as you did yesterday and three days ago?’

¹⁵ And the children of Israel’s supervisors went to see Pharaoh, and asked: ‘Why are you treating your servants this way? ¹⁶ You don’t give us any straw, but you tell us to make bricks anyhow. Look, your servants have been whipped! Are you going to allow your people to be injured?’

¹⁷ And he said to them: ‘You’re lazy and you’re slackers, for you said: Let us go and offer sacrifices to our God. ¹⁸ So, go and work instead, because you won’t be given any straw. However, you must meet the same quota of bricks!’

¹⁹ Well, the children of Israel’s supervisors realized that they were in a tight situation (since they were told that they couldn’t fail to deliver the daily quota of bricks). ²⁰ And when they saw Moses and Aaron coming to meet them (as they were leaving Pharaoh), ²¹ they said, ‘May God look on you and judge you, because you’ve made us so hated by Pharaoh and his servants that you’ve put the sword into their hands with which they can kill us!’

²² Then Moses turned to Jehovah, and said, ‘I beg You, O Lord; Why have You caused trouble for these people, and why did You send me? ²³ For, from the time that I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has oppressed these people; yet You haven’t taken Your people away.’

Chapter 6

¹ And Jehovah replied to Moses: ‘Now you’re going to see what I will do to Pharaoh, for he will indeed send them away… with a strong hand and a hard pitch he’ll THROW them out of his land!’

² And God said to Moses: ‘I am Jehovah… ³ I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I was their God. However, I didn’t show them My Name, Jehovah, ⁴ when I established My Sacred Agreement with them [and promised] to give them the land of the CanaAnites… the land where they were visitors and living as strangers.

⁵ ‘Now, I’ve heard the groans of the children of Israel over the oppressive ways that the Egyptians are keeping them in slavery. And I’ve remembered the Sacred Agreement [that I made] with you. ⁶ So, go and tell the children of Israel that I am Jehovah, and I will lead them out of the tyranny of the Egyptians and free them from slavery. I will pay their ransom with a hard pitch and a great judgment! ⁷ I will take them to be My people, and I will be their God. And then they will know that I am Jehovah their God who freed them from the tyranny of the Egyptians. ⁸ And I will bring them into the land that I reached out to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… I will give it to them as their inheritance, for I am Jehovah.’

⁹ And that’s what Moses thereafter told the Sons of Israel. However, they wouldn’t listen to Moses, because of their fear and their difficult work. ¹⁰ So Jehovah told Moses, ¹¹ ‘Go and tell Pharaoh the king of Egypt to send the children of Israel out of his land.’

¹² And Moses replied to Jehovah, saying, ‘Look, the children of Israel didn’t listen to me, so how will I get Pharaoh to listen to me? Besides, I’m not a good speaker.’ ¹³ So Jehovah spoke to [both] Moses and Aaron, and told them to order Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) to send the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ These were the family heads of each of the houses of [Israel]: The sons of Reuben (Israel’s firstborn) were Enoch, Phallus, Asron, and Charmi. They were Reuben’s children.

¹⁵ The sons of Simeon were JemuEl, Jamin, Aod, JaChin, Saar, and Saul (the son of a Phoenician woman). These were Simeon’s children.

¹⁶ The sons of Levi (and the family heads) were Gedson, CaAth, and MeraRi. And Levi lived to be a hundred and thirty-seven years old.

¹⁷ Now, Gedson’s sons (and the family heads) were Lobeni and Semei.

CaAth’s sons were ¹⁸ Ambram, IsSaar, Chebron, and Ozie. And CaAth lived to be a hundred and thirty-three years old.

¹⁹ The sons of MeraRi (and the family heads) were MoOli, and Omusi.

²⁰ Now, Ambram married his cousin JochaBed (the daughter of his father’s brother), and she gave birth to Aaron, Moses, and Miriam (their sister). Ambram [died] when he was a hundred and thirty-two years old.

²¹ The sons of IsSaar were KorAh, Naphec, and Zechri. ²² And the sons of OziEl were MisaEl, EliSaphan, and Segri.

²³ Then Aaron married ElisaBeth, the daughter of AminAdab and the sister of NaAsson, and she gave birth to Nadab, AbiUd, EliEzer, and IthaMar.

²⁴ KorAh’s sons were Asir, ElKana, and AbiAsar. These were KorAh’s children.

²⁵ Aaron’s son EliEzer married one of the daughters of PhutiEl, and she gave birth to Phineas. These are the heads of the family of the Levites, by their generations.

²⁶ And this is Aaron and Moses, who were told by God to use their powers to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

²⁷ So this is what they said to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, before Aaron and Moses brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, ²⁸ in the day that Jehovah spoke to Moses.

²⁹ Jehovah told Moses: ‘I am Jehovah! Speak to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and tell him whatever I say to you.’

³⁰ And Moses replied to Jehovah: ‘Look, I’m not a good speaker, so how will Pharaoh listen to me?’

Chapter 7

¹ Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘Look! I’ve made you a god to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron is your Prophet. ² So tell Pharaoh everything that I’ve told you to say through your brother Aaron… tell him that he must send the children of Israel out of his land! ³ However, I will make Pharaoh hardhearted. Then I will bring many signs and wonders to the land of Egypt, ⁴ but Pharaoh will still refuse to listen to you. So I will lay My hand upon Egypt and bring My people, the children of Israel, out of their land by My power and with a great vengeance. ⁵ Then all the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah, and that I reached out My hand toward Egypt and brought the children of Israel out of their midst.’

⁶ So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.

⁷ Moses was eighty years old, and his brother Aaron was eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸ Then Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ ‘If Pharaoh says you must give him a sign or a miracle, then tell your brother Aaron to throw his walking stick on the ground in front of Pharaoh and his servants, and it will become a snake.’

¹⁰ So when Moses and Aaron went in [and stood] before Pharaoh and his servants, they did just as the Lord had instructed them. Aaron threw his walking stick before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a snake. ¹¹ However, Pharaoh brought in all the Egyptian wise men, witches, and soothsayers, and they used their magic to do the same thing… ¹² they each threw down their walking sticks and they became snakes. But then, Aaron’s walking stick swallowed down their walking sticks.

¹³ Well, Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he refused to listen to what Jehovah had instructed them to say. ¹⁴ Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘Now Pharaoh’s heart has become hard and he won’t let the people go. ¹⁵ So approach Pharaoh when he goes down to the river tomorrow morning and meet him there on its bank. Then take [Aaron’s] walking stick that turned into a snake ¹⁶ and tell [Pharaoh] that Jehovah the God of the Hebrews has sent you to him, and that He says: Send My people away so they can serve Me in the desert! Look, you haven’t listened to Me so far, ¹⁷ but this is how I’m going to let you know that I am Jehovah!’

‘[Then tell him]: Look; I’m going to slap the water with this walking stick in my hand, and the river water will change into blood. ¹⁸ Then all the fish in the river will die and it will stink, and the Egyptians won’t be able to drink water from the river.’

¹⁹ And Jehovah continued, ‘Then tell your brother Aaron to take his walking stick and hold his arms out over all the water in Egypt (over their rivers, canals, ponds, and any standing water) and they will turn into blood. This blood will be throughout the entire land of Egypt… even in their pottery and wooden jars!’

²⁰ So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. [Aaron] held out the walking stick and slapped the river right there in front of Pharaoh and his servants, and changed all the river water into blood. ²¹ Then all the fish in the river died and the river had a foul odor, so the Egyptians couldn’t drink water from it. And there was blood throughout the entire land of Egypt.

²² However, the Egyptian soothsayers used their magic to do the same thing, so the heart of Pharaoh became hard and he wouldn’t listen to them… which is just what Jehovah said [would happen]. ²³ Then Pharaoh turned around and went back into his palace without looking at anything.

²⁴ Well, the Egyptians had to dig [pits] around the river to find drinking water, because they couldn’t drink the river water. ²⁵ And Jehovah’s conquest of the river lasted for seven days.

Chapter 8

¹ Then the Lord told Moses: ‘Now go to Pharaoh [again] and tell him that this is what Jehovah has said: Send My people away so they can serve Me. ² And if you don’t send them away, {Look!} I will fill your land with frogs… ³ the river will teem with frogs, and they’ll get into your houses, into your bedrooms, and onto your beds. [They will be] in the homes of your citizens, in the homes of your servants, on your dough, and on your ovens. ⁴ They will also climb on you, your servants, and your people.’

⁵ And Jehovah said to Moses, ‘Tell your brother Aaron to hold his arms out with his walking stick in his hand over the rivers, canals, and pools, to bring up the frogs.’

⁶ So Aaron held his arms out over the waters of Egypt and brought up the frogs; and the frogs that he brought up covered the land of Egypt.

⁷ Well, the Egyptian soothsayers used their magic and they too brought frogs upon the land of Egypt.

⁸ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, ‘Pray to Jehovah for me and ask Him take the frogs away from my people and me. Then I will send [the children of Israel] away to offer sacrifices to Jehovah.’

⁹ And Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘Tell me; When I should pray for the frogs to disappear from you, your servants, and your people; [for, that’s when they will be gone] from you, your people, and your houses. However, they will remain in the river.’

¹⁰ And [Pharaoh] replied: ‘Tomorrow morning.’

Then [Moses] said, ‘It will be just as you’ve said… and then you will know that there is no [God] other than Jehovah. ¹¹ The frogs will be removed from you, your houses, your villages, your servants, and your people. However, they will remain in the river.’ ¹² And at that, Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh.

Then Moses called to Jehovah and asked Him to remove the frogs, as Pharaoh had asked. ¹³ And Jehovah did what Moses asked, and the frogs died in the houses, villages, and fields. ¹⁴ So, they gathered them in piles, which caused the whole land to stink.

¹⁵ Well, when Pharaoh saw that there was some relief, his heart became hard again, and he didn’t listen to the things they told him that Jehovah had said. ¹⁶ So Jehovah told Moses: ‘Now tell Aaron to take his walking stick in his hand and to hit the dirt on the ground, then fleas will cover the men and animals throughout the entire land of Egypt.’

¹⁷ So Aaron stuck out the walking stick and hit the dirt on the ground, and fleas covered the men and animals… there were fleas on the ground everywhere!

¹⁸ Well, the soothsayers tried to use their magic to do the same thing and bring out the fleas, but they were unable to do so. However, the fleas covered both men and animals, ¹⁹ so the soothsayers said to Pharaoh: ‘This is the finger of God!’

But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he wouldn’t listen to them and do as Jehovah said. ²⁰ So Jehovah said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he’s going to go down to the water. Then you must tell him that this is what Jehovah has said: Send My people away, so they can serve Me in the desert. ²¹ And if you won’t let My people go, {Look!} I’m going to send stable flies to you, your servants, your citizens, and into your homes. The houses of the Egyptians will be filled with stable flies, wherever they live in the land. ²² [But this time], I will create a marvelous difference in the land of Gesem, where My people are living… there’ll be no stable flies there. Then you will know that I am Jehovah, the God of all the earth, ²³ when I create a difference between My people and yours! This is going to happen in your land tomorrow!’

²⁴ Well, the stable flies came in huge numbers and they got into the houses of Pharaoh, his servants, and everyone in the land of Egypt… the land was virtually destroyed by stable flies! ²⁵ So Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron [again] and said, ‘Now, go and offer a sacrifice to Jehovah your God here in this land.’

²⁶ But Moses said: ‘We can’t do that, because the things we will sacrifice to Jehovah our God are considered disgusting to the Egyptians. So if we sacrifice such things in front of the Egyptians, they will stone us. ²⁷ Rather, let us travel three-days into the desert, and we will offer our sacrifices to Jehovah our God there, as our Lord has told us.’

²⁸ Then Pharaoh said, ‘Go and sacrifice to your God in the desert; but don’t go too far; and pray to Jehovah for me!’

²⁹ And Moses said, ‘Now I will leave you and pray to God, so that the stable flies will leave your servants and your citizens tomorrow. But Pharaoh; Don’t deceive me again and refuse to send the people away to sacrifice to Jehovah.’

³⁰ Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God. ³¹ And Jehovah did just as Moses said… He removed all the stable flies from Pharaoh, his servants, and his citizens. ³² However, Pharaoh’s heart became hard once again and he wouldn’t send the people away.

Chapter 9

¹ So Jehovah told Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him that this is what Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews says: Send My people away so they can serve Me. ² And if you don’t send My people away and if you prevent them from going, ³ {Look!} the Lord will touch the cattle in the fields – the horses, burros, camels, bulls, and sheep – and many will die! ⁴ I will also show a marvelous difference between [the way I will treat] the cattle of the Egyptians and the cattle of the children of Israel. None of those that belong to the children of Israel will die.’

⁵ Then God told him when this would happen. He said, ‘I will bring it on the land tomorrow.’

⁶ And the next day, cattle belonging to all the Egyptians died, but none of the children of Israel’s cattle died. ⁷ And when Pharaoh saw that none of the cattle that belonged to the children of Israel died (not one), Pharaoh’s heart became even harder, so he refused to let the people go.

⁸ Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘Moses should take handfuls of furnace ashes and throw them into the sky before Pharaoh and his servants, ⁹ and let it blow like dust over the entire land of Egypt. Then the men and animals throughout Egypt will break out with blisters.’

¹⁰ So Moses carried furnace ashes before Pharaoh and threw them into the sky, and they caused blisters to break out on both the men and their animals.

¹¹ Well, the soothsayers were no longer able to stand before Moses, because they were also covered with blisters, just like everyone else in the land of Egypt. ¹² But Jehovah just made Pharaoh’s heart harder, so he wouldn’t listen to them and do what Jehovah told him to do.

¹³ And Jehovah said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, then tell him that this is what Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has said: Send My people away so they can serve Me. ¹⁴ For, I’ve been sending all My plagues into your heart and into the hearts of your servants and your people, so you will know that there isn’t anyone else like Me in the entire earth. ¹⁵ And now I’m going to raise My hand to strike you and kill your people, wiping them off of the earth. ¹⁶ Why, the very reason that you’ve been allowed to live is so that I might display My strength through you, and so that My Name might be advertised throughout the whole earth!

¹⁷ ‘You’ve taken great pains to keep My people and to not let them go… haven't you? ¹⁸ Look! At this same time tomorrow, I will cause a hailstorm that will be the worst that Egypt has ever seen since the time it was created. ¹⁹ So, hurry and gather your cattle, as well as everything else that you have in the fields… all the men and cattle that you can find in the fields. For if they don’t go inside a house, the hail will hit them and they will die!’

²⁰ So those servants of Pharaoh who were afraid of what Jehovah said, brought their cattle into their homes. ²¹ And those who didn’t pay any attention to what Jehovah said, left their cattle in the fields.

²² Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘Raise your hands to the sky, and there will be a hailstorm throughout the entire land of Egypt… on the men, the cattle, and on all the plants that are growing on the ground.’

²³ So Moses raised his hands to the sky, and Jehovah sent hail, thunder, and lightning that rolled around on the ground. And this hail from Jehovah rained throughout the entire land of Egypt. ²⁴ There was hail and there was lightning mixed with hail… it was the greatest hailstorm to hit Egypt in the [history of] the nation! ²⁵ The hail landed all over the land of Egypt – on the men, the animals, and the grass in the fields – and it broke all the trees in the fields. ²⁶ But in the land of Gesem where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

²⁷ So Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said: ‘I’ve sinned this time. Jehovah is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. ²⁸ Pray to Jehovah for me and have Him stop the thunder, lightning, and the hail, then I will send you away and you won’t have to [live here] anymore.’

²⁹ And Moses said to him: ‘After I leave the city, I will raise my hands to Jehovah, and the thunder, lightning, hail, and rain will stop… and then you will know that the earth belongs to Jehovah. ³⁰ However, I know that you and your servants don’t fear Jehovah yet.’

³¹ Well, [Egypt’s] flax and barley was all destroyed, because the barley was fully-grown and the flax had seeds. ³² However, the wheat and rye hadn’t been damaged, because they came up later.

³³ So then, Moses left Pharaoh and [walked] out of the city. And when he raised his hands to Jehovah, the thundering stopped, and the rain and hail stopped falling.

³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thundering had stopped, he continued to sin. He hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants. ³⁵ And it was because of this hard heart that Pharaoh refused to send the children of Israel away, as Jehovah had instructed Moses.

Chapter 10

¹ Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and said, ‘Go to Pharaoh [again], because I’ve hardened the hearts of him and his servants, so I could bring these signs upon them. ² [I did this] so you could tell your children and your children’s children of the many ways that I’ve mocked the Egyptians, and of the wonders that I’ve brought upon them, so they will know that I am Jehovah.’

³ Then Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh and said to him, ‘This is what Jehovah the God of the Hebrews says: How much longer will you refuse to respect Me? Send My people away, so they can serve Me. ⁴ But if you won’t send My people away, {Look!} at this same time tomorrow I will bring a huge amount of locusts to all your borders. ⁵ They will cover the entire land, and you won’t be able to see the ground. They will eat everything that the hail has left you, and chew up every tree that you have growing in the land. ⁶ Your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses in all the land of Egypt will be filled with them. It will be something that neither your fathers nor their ancestors have ever seen from their time until today.’

Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh. ⁷ And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, ‘How much longer are you going to allow them to be a snare to us? Send those people away so they can serve their God! Don’t you realize that Egypt is [being] destroyed?’

⁸ So they went and brought Moses and Aaron back to Pharaoh, and he said to them: ‘You may go and serve Jehovah your God… but, just who will be going with you?’

⁹ And Moses replied, ‘We will be taking the young and the old, along with our sons, daughters, sheep, and bulls, because this is a feast of Jehovah.’

¹⁰ Then [Pharaoh] said to them, ‘May Jehovah be with you. But if I send you away, must I also [send away] all that you own? You have an evil [plan], ¹¹ so [I’m] not going to [allow that]! I’ll just allow the men to go and serve God, because that’s all you really wanted… now throw them out from before the presence of Pharaoh!’

¹² Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘Now raise your hands over the land of Egypt and let the locusts come to the land. They will eat every plant on the ground and all the fruit that wasn’t damaged by the hail on the trees!’

¹³ So Moses lifted his walking stick to the sky, and Jehovah sent a south wind [that blew] all day and all night long. Then the next morning, the south wind brought the locusts ¹⁴ and sent them throughout the land of Egypt. And there they sat in huge numbers throughout all the borders of Egypt. Never had such locusts been seen before or since! ¹⁵ They covered the entire ground and destroyed the land. They ate all the plants off the ground and any fruit in the trees that hadn’t been damaged by the hail… nothing green was left on the trees or in the fields anywhere in the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron, and said: ‘I have sinned before Jehovah your God and against you. ¹⁷ [Please] pardon my sin one more time and pray to Jehovah your God, for Him take away this death!’

¹⁸ So Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God, ¹⁹ then Jehovah sent a strong wind from the sea that blew in the opposite direction, which picked up the locusts and threw them into the Red Sea, so there wasn’t a single locust left anywhere in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ But Jehovah continued to harden Pharaoh’s heart, so he didn’t send the children of Israel away.

²¹ Then Jehovah told Moses, ‘Lift your hands toward the sky and bring darkness to the land of Egypt… a darkness that can be felt.’

²² So Moses raised his hands to the sky, and it stormed throughout the land of Egypt for three days and the sky became totally black. ²³ And for three days, nobody could see anyone else, so no one got out of bed. However, all the children of Israel had light where they were.

²⁴ Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said: ‘Go serve your God Jehovah, but leave your sheep, your bulls, and your belongings.’

²⁵ However, Moses said: ‘No; You must allow us the burnt offerings and sacrifices that we’re going to offer to Jehovah our God… ²⁶ so our cattle will be going with us! We won’t leave a hoof behind, because we’re going to take them to serve Jehovah our God, and we won’t know how we’re going to serve Him until we get there.’

²⁷ But Jehovah kept hardening Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let them go. ²⁸ So Pharaoh said, ‘Get away from me, and be careful not to see my face again! Because, the next time you appear before me, you’re going to die!’

²⁹ And Moses replied: ‘That’s what you’ve said, so I won’t appear in your presence again!’

Chapter 11

¹ Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘I’m going to bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt, and then he will send you away with everything… in fact, he’ll drive you out! ² Now, go to the people secretly and tell them to ask their neighbors for clothing, as well as for silver and gold jewelry.’

³ So Jehovah caused his people to be looked on favorably by the Egyptians, and they were willing to lend things to them, because the Egyptians considered Moses a great man… even greater than Pharaoh and his servants.

⁴ Then Moses told [the children of Israel], ‘This is what Jehovah said: About midnight I will be going throughout Egypt, ⁵ and all the firstborn in the land will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the firstborn of the female slave who sits by the mill, as well as the firstborn of all the cattle. ⁶ Then a cry will [be heard] throughout the land of Egypt such as has never been heard before and will never be repeated. ⁷ However, among the children of Israel, not even a dog will snarl at a man or an animal. That’s when you will see how great the difference is, that Jehovah will make between the Egyptians and Israel. ⁸ [The Egyptians] will then be your servants. They will come to [you] and bow, saying, Leave… you and all the people that you’re in charge of. And that’s when [you will] leave.’

⁹ Now, Moses had left Pharaoh [feeling very] angry. And as Jehovah told Moses, ‘Pharaoh isn’t going to listen to you, so I can show great signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.’ ¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron brought about all these signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and before Pharaoh. But Jehovah kept hardening Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t listen and send the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Chapter 12

¹ Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron there in the land of Egypt, and said, ² ‘This will be your first month. It is to be the first one [in your] year. ³ So, tell the whole gathering of the children of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man should select a lamb for his household (depending on the size of his family). ⁴ And if there are just a few in his house – too few [to eat a whole] lamb – they may go to [the home of] a nearby neighbor. And to figure out how many people that will be, they should each calculate how much lamb they will eat.

⁵ ‘So, choose a perfect male yearling lamb from [your herd] of lambs and kids, ⁶ and keep it nearby until the fourteenth day of this month. Then the whole gathering of the children of Israel must slaughter [their lambs] toward the evening. ⁷ And they must gather the blood and put it on the top and both sides of the doorframes of the houses where they will be eating [the lamb]. ⁸ Then that night, they must roast the flesh over a fire and eat it with fermentation-free bread and bitter herbs.

⁹ ‘Now, you must not eat it raw or boiled in water, just roasted over a fire with the head, feet, and extremities. ¹⁰ Nothing should be left over until morning, and you shouldn’t break any of its bones. Any leftovers must be burned in the fire.

¹¹ ‘And this is how you must eat it: With your thighs covered for work, your sandals on your feet, and your walking sticks in your hands. Then you must eat it quickly, for it is Jehovah’s Passover. ¹² Because, I will go throughout the land of Egypt that night and strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt (both men and animals), and I will bring My vengeance upon all the gods of Egypt, for I am Jehovah.

¹³ ‘Now, this blood will be the sign that you’re in the house, so I will see the blood and protect you. That way, you won’t be a part of the plague of destruction when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ ‘You must always remember this day and keep it as a feast to Jehovah through all your generations. [Observance of] this feast will be the law through the ages.

¹⁵ ‘Now, you will eat fermentation-free bread for seven days. And starting on the first day, you must remove all fermentation from your homes. And if someone eats fermentation between the first and seventh days, that person must be destroyed in Israel.

¹⁶ ‘The first day will be called holy, and the seventh day will be your holy day. You aren’t to do any hired work then. The only work that you may do will be for the things that you require.

¹⁷ ‘And you must keep this commandment, because this is the day that I will use My great power to bring you out of the land of Egypt, and you will make this day a law through the ages for every generation.

¹⁸ ‘You must eat fermentation-free bread from the evening of the fourteenth-day of the first month, until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹ Fermentation must not be found in your homes during those seven days, and whoever eats anything with fermentation [in it] will have his life cut off from the gathering of Israel, and he will be self-condemned in the land. This applies to the native residents of the land, as well as to their neighbors (converts). ²⁰ Nobody should eat anything that has fermentation; only fermentation-free bread may be eaten in any of your homes.’

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of the children of Israel and told them, ‘Go find yourselves a lamb (according to your family needs) and slaughter the Passover. ²² Then [cut] a bunch of hyssop branches and dip them into some of the blood next to the door, and touch it to the upper part and both sides of the door frame… this blood, which is by the door. Then no one should go outside the door of his house until morning, ²³ for Jehovah will pass over you [as He] strikes the Egyptians… He will see the blood on the doorframes and Jehovah will pass over that door. He won’t allow the destroyer to enter your homes to strike you.

²⁴ ‘Now, keep this as a Law for yourselves and for your descendants through the age. ²⁵ And if you should enter the land that Jehovah promises to give you, you must keep on doing this. ²⁶ Then, if your sons should ever ask, Why are we doing this? ²⁷ You should tell them, The Passover is a sacrifice to Jehovah, for when He protected the homes of the children of Israel in Egypt and He struck the Egyptians, but [passed over] our homes.’

²⁸ Well, the people bowed to their faces, then the children of Israel went and did exactly as Jehovah had instructed Moses and Aaron.

²⁹ It was midnight when Jehovah struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt… from the firstborn of Pharaoh who was sitting on the throne, to the firstborn of the female slave who was sitting in a dungeon, to the firstborn of all the cattle. ³⁰ So Pharaoh woke up that night (as did his servants and all the Egyptians) and there was a lot of screaming throughout the entire land of Egypt, for someone had died in every home.

³¹ As the result, Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron that night and told them: ‘Get up and leave us, both you and the children of Israel! Go and serve your God Jehovah as you’ve asked, ³² and take your sheep and bulls along with you. But please bless me… I beg you!’

³³ Then the Egyptians urged them to leave their land quickly, because they were saying, ‘We’re all going to die!’

³⁴ So the children of Israel took the dough that had no fermentation and wrapped it in cloth, then put it on their shoulders. ³⁵ And following Moses’ instructions, they asked the Egyptians for clothing and for items of silver and gold. ³⁶ And Jehovah caused the Egyptians to view them favorably, so they [gave these things] to them… they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ Then the children of Israel left [the city of] Ramses [and traveled] to SocChoth… six hundred thousand men on foot with everything they owned, ³⁸ along with a huge number of others who left with them, along with their sheep, bulls, and many cattle.

³⁹ Then they baked the dough that they had brought from Egypt into fermentation-free loaves (there was still no fermentation in the dough), because the Egyptians wouldn’t allow them to stay, and they had [virtually] thrown them out; so they didn’t have time to make provisions for their journey.

⁴⁰ Now, although it had been four hundred and thirty years that the children of Israel had stayed in the land of Egypt and in the land of CanaAn, ⁴¹ the whole army of Jehovah left the land of Egypt that night. ⁴² It was [the night] when they kept watching for Jehovah to bring them out of the land of Egypt, so all the children of Israel throughout all their generations must keep this same night as a night of watch to Jehovah.

⁴³ Then Jehovah told Moses and Aaron: ‘This is the Law regarding the Passover: No stranger may eat it, ⁴⁴ and any slave or servant that you buy must be circumcised before he can eat it. ⁴⁵ Visitors and people you hire can’t eat it. ⁴⁶ It must be eaten in one house, because you can’t carry the flesh outside the house… and no bones should be broken. ⁴⁷ The entire gathering of the children of Israel must do this.

⁴⁸ And if a convert comes and wants to keep the Passover to Jehovah, you must circumcise all their males before they can come and offer the sacrifice; and then they will be treated as residents in the land. However, no one who is uncircumcised may eat it. ⁴⁹ So there will be just one Law, and it will apply to both the native residents and to those who come to be converts among you.’

⁵⁰ Then the children of Israel did exactly as Jehovah had instructed Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ And so, that was the day when Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with all their forces.

Chapter 13

¹ Then Jehovah told Moses: ² ‘All the first-fathered and firstborn that open any womb among the children of Israel, whether of men or animals, are to be set aside as holy to Me, for they are Mine.’

³ And Moses said to the people, ‘Remember this day! [It’s the one] when you were brought out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery; for Jehovah brought you out of there with His strong hand. So, fermentation must not be eaten [now]!

⁴ ‘And it was on this day of new grain that you left, ⁵ so when Jehovah your God brings you into the land of the CanaAnites, Chettites, Amorites, Evites, Jebusites, Gergesites, and Pherezites, which He swore to your ancestors that He would give you – a land that flows with milk and honey – you must perform this same service during this month. ⁶ Six days you will eat fermentation-free bread, and the seventh day will be a feast day to Jehovah. ⁷ So for seven days you will eat fermentation-free bread. Nothing with fermentation may be seen among you, nor may you have fermentation inside all your borders. ⁸ And you will tell your sons on this day: This is how Jehovah dealt with me as I was leaving Egypt.

⁹ ‘So, let it remain as a sign on your hand and as something to remember before your eyes, that Jehovah’s Law may always stay on your [lips], because Jehovah God brought you out of Egypt with His strong hand. ¹⁰ So, each year at this time and season, you must observe this Law.

¹¹ ‘And when Jehovah your God brings you into the land of the CanaAnites, which He swore to your ancestors that he would give you, ¹² you must set aside every male that opens a womb to Jehovah. This includes those among your flocks and herds of cattle… as many as you have. [All the] males must be [set aside as] holy to Jehovah.

¹³ ‘However, when it comes to burros, you must offer a sheep instead… you can’t exchange it, you must buy it back [from Jehovah], and you must buy back every firstborn son.

¹⁴ ‘And if your son should ever ask you, Why are you doing this? You must tell him, Jehovah brought us out of Egypt and out of the house of slavery with His strong hand. ¹⁵ And when Pharaoh’s heart became hard and [he refused] to send us away, [God] slaughtered all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the men and the animals. That’s why we offer every male that opens a womb to Jehovah, and that’s why we buy back all of our firstborn sons.

¹⁶ ‘So, may this be a sign on your hand and something that is always fixed in front of your eyes, because Jehovah brought you out of Egypt with His strong hand.’

¹⁷ Well, after Pharaoh sent the people away, God didn’t lead them toward the land of the Philistines (although it wasn’t far away), because God said, ‘[This is to keep] the people from having a change of heart when they see war, and from returning to Egypt.’ ¹⁸ So God led them around the desert toward the Red Sea

It was the fifth generation of the children of Israel that left the land of Egypt. ¹⁹ And Moses took Joseph’s bones along, because [Joseph] had made the children of Israel swear, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, so you must carry my bones back with you.’

²⁰ So the children of Israel left SocChoth and went to camp at Othom, which is near the desert. ²¹ God led them there using a tall column of clouds during the day (to show them the way) and a tall column of fire during the night. ²² The column of clouds was there all day, every day, and the column of fire was always there in front of the people at night.

Chapter 14

¹ Then Jehovah said to Moses, ² ‘Tell the children of Israel to turn around and set up camp in front of the village of Magdol… between it and the sea, across from Beel-SepPhon. Camp there in front of them, next to the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say to his people, The children of Israel are just wandering in the land, and now they are boxed in!

⁴ ‘Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after you. And Pharaoh and his whole army will bring glory to Me, and all the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah.’

And that’s what happened. ⁵ A report was carried to the king of the Egyptians that the people had run away. And this changed the hearts of Pharaoh and his servants against the [children of Israel], and they started asking, ‘What have we have done by allowing the children of Israel to go, rather than to have them serving us?’

⁶ So Pharaoh prepared his chariots and took all his people with him. ⁷ They took along six hundred of their best chariots, the entire Egyptian cavalry, and all his generals.

⁸ But it was because Jehovah had hardened the hearts of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) and his servants that he chased after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel allowed them the upper hand. ⁹ Because, when the Egyptians chased them, they found them camped there by the sea.

Well, there was all of Pharaoh’s cavalry, his chariots, his horsemen, and his army at the village near Beel-SepPhon. ¹⁰ And as Pharaoh approached, the children of Israel could see the Egyptians [marching] behind them, and they were terrified and started calling out to Jehovah.

¹¹ Then they asked Moses, ‘Aren’t there enough graves in the land of Egypt so that you had to bring us out here to kill us in the desert? What have you done to us by taking us out of Egypt? ¹² Wasn’t it enough that we told you in Egypt to leave us alone, so we could serve the Egyptians? Why, it’s better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die here in this desert!’

¹³ But Moses said to the people, ‘Don’t be afraid; Stand here and watch the salvation that comes from Jehovah and the things He will do for us on this day. Why, you see all those Egyptians today, but you won’t see them again in this age, ¹⁴ because Jehovah is going to fight for you, so you will be at peace!’

¹⁵ Then Jehovah asked Moses, ‘Why are they shouting to Me? Speak to the children of Israel and tell them to go on! ¹⁶ Raise your walking stick and lift your hands over the sea, and split it. Then [lead] the children of Israel across on dry land through the midst of the sea.

¹⁷ ‘Then {Look!}, I will harden the hearts of Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, and they will follow you, so Pharaoh, his army, his chariots, and his horses will glorify Me; ¹⁸ and all the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah when I’m glorified by Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horses.’

¹⁹ It was then that the messenger of God who traveled in front of the camp of the children of Israel left and went to its rear. So the column of clouds moved and stayed behind them, ²⁰ between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And as it was standing there, it started to get dark, and the night became very black, so they couldn’t come any closer all night long.

²¹ Then Moses lifted his arms over the sea, and Jehovah pushed the sea back with a strong south wind [that blew] all night long. This dried the seabed and divided the water. ²² So the children of Israel walked into the middle of the sea on dry land, and a wall of water stood there on their right and on their left.

²³ But then the Egyptians went in after them and chased them… all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen went through the middle of the sea. ²⁴ And it was during the morning watch that Jehovah looked at the Egyptians through the columns of fire and clouds, and [He created] trouble in their camp. ²⁵ The wheels on their chariots sank to their axels, so they were hard to pull. And the Egyptians said, ‘Let’s run from the face of Israel, because Jehovah is fighting for them against the Egyptians!’

²⁶ Then Jehovah told Moses; ‘Now, stretch your arms out over the sea and let the water fall back in its place… let it cover the Egyptian chariots and their riders.’

²⁷ So Moses stretched his arms out over the sea, and the water returned to its place around daybreak. The Egyptians tried to run from the water, but Jehovah just kept shaking them back into the middle of the sea. ²⁸ So the water returned and covered the chariots and their riders, along with the whole army of Pharaoh that followed them into the sea; and there were no survivors.

²⁹ Yet, the children of Israel had crossed through the middle of the sea on dry land, while the water stood like walls on their right and on their left. ³⁰ So Jehovah saved Israel that day from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead by the seashore. ³¹ And Israel saw Jehovah’s mighty hand in the things He did to the Egyptians, and they started to fear Jehovah and trust in God and in His servant Moses.

Chapter 15

¹ Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to God:

‘Let’s sing to Jehovah, for He has been glorified.
He’s thrown the horses and riders into the sea.
² He’s been our helper and protector,
And He has brought us salvation.

This is my God and I’ll praise Him.
He’s the God of my fathers and I’ll hold Him high.
³ The Lord brings a crushing with war,
[Yes], Jehovah is His [Great] Name.

⁴ Into the sea He has thrown
The chariots of Pharaoh and his army;
The Red Sea swallowed the best mounted generals,
⁵ Then He covered them up with the sea,
And they sank to its bottom like stones.

⁶ The strength of Your right hand, O God,
Has been made [ever so] glorious.
And Your right hand, O God,
Has broken [all of] Your enemies.

⁷ In Your glory You have broken our enemies to pieces.
You sent [upon them] Your rage,
And it ate them up just like stubble.

⁸ By the spirit of Your rage the waters had parted…
The water became solid like a wall.
And the waves became solid in the midst of the sea.

⁹ The enemy said, ‘I’ll chase and overtake them…
I’ll divide the plunder and make myself happy.
I will destroy with my sword,
And I’ll dominate with my hand.

¹⁰ But then You sent out Your wind,
And the sea covered them over…
They sank like lead amid mighty waters.

¹¹ Who among the gods is like You, O Lord?
Yes, who else is there like You?
For, in holiness You are glorified,
And we marvel at all of Your glories.

¹² You raised Your right hand and brought wonders,
For the earth swallowed them down.
¹³ But You righteously guided the people You purchased,
By Your strength You called them to Your holy place of rest.

¹⁴ The nations heard this and were angry…
Pangs of birth grabbed hold of Philistines.
¹⁵ The princes of Edom and Moab,
And all their chiefs have now fled.

They all had started to tremble,
And all in CanaAn have melted away.
¹⁶ May they tremble in fear of the strength of Your arm,
And may they become just like stones, O Lord,
Until Your people pass them by… Until the people You’ve purchased pass them by.

¹⁷ Take us and plant us in the mountains we’ll inherit…
In the home You’ve prepared [for us], O Lord…
In the place of safety You’ve prepared with Your hands,
¹⁸ For, Jehovah reigns through the age,
And on through the ages of the ages.

¹⁹ Pharaoh’s horse sank in the sea,
Along with his chariots and horsemen.
Then Jehovah covered them over with water,
But the children of Israel walked on dry land,
Through the midst of the sea.’

²⁰ Then the Prophetess Miriam (Aaron’s sister) picked up her tambourine, and all the other women went to get their tambourines, and they all started dancing. ²¹ Miriam led them, saying, ‘Let’s sing to Jehovah, for He has been glorified. The horses and riders have been thrown in the sea…’

²² And thereafter, Moses led the children of Israel away from the Red Sea and brought them into the desert of Sur. And after three days in the desert, they couldn’t find any water to drink; ²³ and when they got to MerRha, they couldn’t drink the water there, because it was bitter. So [Moses] named that place Bitterness.

²⁴ Well, then the people started complaining about Moses. They were asking, ‘What are we going to drink?’

²⁵ So Moses called to Jehovah, and Jehovah showed him a tree, which [Moses] threw into the water and the water became sweet… and this is the place where [God] gave him His Laws and decisions, and where He showed His approval. ²⁶ For [God] said: ‘If you will listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, do things that please Him, obey His Commandments, and keep all His Laws, I won’t bring any of the [plagues] upon you that I brought on the Egyptians. For I am Jehovah; the God who makes you well.’

²⁷ And when they arrived at AiLim, they found twelve springs of water and seventy branching palm trees, so they camped there by the water.

Chapter 16

¹ Then they left AiLim, and the entire gathering of the children of Israel traveled to the Sin Desert, which is between AiLim and Sinai. And on the fifteenth day of the second month from their leaving the land of Egypt, ² the entire gathering of the children of Israel started complaining about Moses and Aaron. ³ They told them, ‘We would rather have died [with those who were] struck by Jehovah in the land of Egypt, back when we could sit by the stew pots and eat all the bread we wanted! Now you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death!’

⁴ And Jehovah said to Moses, ‘Look! I will rain bread on you from the sky. Then the people will go out and gather their allotment for each day, so I can test them to see whether they will follow My Law or not. ⁵ For on the sixth day, they will gather whatever they can, and it will be double what they gathered on the previous days.’

⁶ So Moses and Aaron spoke to the entire gathering of the children of Israel, saying, ‘This evening you will know that it was Jehovah who brought you out of the land of Egypt; ⁷ for in the morning you will see the glory of Jehovah. Because, He has heard you complaining against Him… and what are we that you keep complaining about us?’

⁸ Then Moses said, ‘This evening Jehovah will give you meat to eat, and in the morning He will provide enough bread to satisfy you, because Jehovah has heard all the complaints that you have against us… and what are we? You aren’t complaining against us, but against God!’

⁹ And Moses said to Aaron, ‘Tell the entire gathering of the children of Israel: Go up close to God, because He has heard you complaining.’

¹⁰ Then, after Aaron spoke to them, they turned toward the desert, and the glory of Jehovah appeared in a cloud. ¹¹ And at that, Jehovah spoke to Moses, and said, ¹² ‘I’ve heard the children of Israel’s complaints. So, tell them: This evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have enough bread to satisfy you… and then you will know that I am Jehovah your God.’

¹³ Well, that evening a [huge flock] of quail flew in and covered the camp. ¹⁴ And the next morning, after the dew around about the camp had dried, {Look!} there on the surface of the desert (lying there like frost), were small things that looked like white coriander seeds. ¹⁵ And when the children of Israel saw it, they asked each other, ‘What is this? ([Man nah?])’ because they didn’t know what it was.

And Moses told them, ¹⁶ ‘This is the bread that Jehovah has given you to eat… it’s what Jehovah has approved. Each man should gather a third of a bushel for each person in his family. Go gather it along with those who are living with you.’

¹⁷ And that’s what the children of Israel did. Some gathered more and others gathered less, ¹⁸ yet those who gathered the full third of a bushel didn’t have any leftovers, and those who gathered less never went hungry. So they all gathered just what their households needed.

¹⁹ However, Moses told them: ‘Nobody should save any for the next morning.’

²⁰ But many wouldn’t listen to Moses, and they kept it until the next morning. However, by then it had worms and it smelled… and this irritated Moses. ²¹ So each morning, every man would collect all he needed, and everything melted after the sun went down. ²² Then on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much as they needed... two-thirds of a bushel per person. So all the chiefs of their gathering went and reported it to Moses. ²³ And Moses asked, ‘Didn’t Jehovah tell us that tomorrow is the Sabbath… a holy [day of] rest to Jehovah? So, bake all that you can bake, and boil all that you can boil, so that the leftovers can be stored for tomorrow!’

²⁴ As the result, they stored the leftovers until the next morning, just as Moses told them, and it didn’t stink and there weren’t any worms in it. ²⁵ Then Moses said, ‘That’s what you must eat today, because today is a Sabbath to Jehovah… so you won’t find any in the fields. ²⁶ You must collect it for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, so there won’t be any then.’

²⁷ Yet, on the seventh day, some of the people still went out to collect it, but they couldn’t find any. ²⁸ So Jehovah asked Moses, ‘How long are you going to fail to listen to My commands and [obey] My laws? ²⁹ Look; I’ve given you this day as the Sabbath, and I gave you enough bread to last for two days on the sixth day. So sit there in your homes and don’t allow anyone to leave his place on the seventh day!’

³⁰ And thereafter, the people kept the Sabbath on the seventh day.

³¹ Well, the children of Israel called this [food] manna. It looked like white coriander seeds and tasted like crackers and honey.

³² Then Moses said, ‘This is what Jehovah commanded: We are to collect a third of a bushel of manna and set it aside, so future generations can see the bread that you ate in the desert after Jehovah led you from the land of Egypt.’ ³³ And he told Aaron: ‘Take a gold pot and fill it with a full third-of-a-bushel of manna, then store it away for God and keep it for future generations.’

³⁴ And just as Jehovah told Moses, Aaron stored it away as a testimony.

³⁵ So the children of Israel ate manna for forty years. They ate manna until they got to the land of Phoenicia. ³⁶ Now, a homer (a third of a bushel) was a tenth of three bath measures.

Chapter 17

¹ Then the entire gathering of the children of Israel left the desert of Sin, following the order of their camps, and Jehovah told them to camp in RaphiDin. However, there was no water for the people to drink, ² so they started shouting at Moses and saying, ‘Give us water to drink!’

And Moses asked them, ‘Why are you shouting at me, and why are you asking Jehovah to prove Himself?

³ Well, the people were very thirsty there, and they complained again to Moses, saying, ‘What’s the point? Did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill our children, our cattle, and us with thirst?’

⁴ Then Moses called to Jehovah, and said, ‘What should I do with these people? Why, before long they’ll stone me!’

⁵ And Jehovah replied to Moses, ‘Go before the people and bring along some of their elders. Then take the walking stick that you slapped the [Nile] river with into your hand, and go ⁶ to the rock in the dry place (Horeb). And look! I’ll be standing there before you! [Then you must] hit the rock, and water will pour from it, and the people will [have something to] drink.’

So, Moses went before the Sons of Israel. ⁷ And he named that place Proof and Shouting, because of all the shouting of the children of Israel, and because they wanted Jehovah to prove Himself when they asked, ‘Is Jehovah among us or not?’

⁸ Then the Amalechites came to fight against Israel in RaphiDin. ⁹ And Moses said to JoShua, ‘Choose your best men and form battle lines against the Amalechites tomorrow, and {Look!} I will be standing on top of the hill with the walking stick of God in my hands.’

¹⁰ So, JoShua did just as Moses told him. He went out and formed his army in battle lines against the Amalechites; then Moses, Aaron, and Or went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ And whenever Moses raised his arms, Israel would be superior, but when he let them down, the Amalechites were more successful. ¹² However, Moses’ arms soon got tired, so they found a rock and had him sit on top of it, then Aaron and Or supported his arms on either side, and they held them there until the sun set.

¹³ So, JoShua drove the Amalechites and all their people away by slaughtering them with swords. ¹⁴ Then Jehovah told Moses, ‘Write this in a scroll so it will be remembered: Tell JoShua that I’m going to totally blot out all memory of the Amalechites from under the heavens.’

¹⁵ Then Moses then built an altar to Jehovah there and named it My Refuge, ¹⁶ because Jehovah was secretly waging war against all generations of the Amalechites.

Chapter 18

¹ Well, Jethro (the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law) heard of all that Jehovah had done for his people Israel by bringing them out of Egypt. ² So Jethro [went to him], along with Moses’ wife ZipPorah (since [Moses] had sent her ³ and her two sons away). [One of his sons] was named Gersam, because, as [Moses] said: ‘I was a visitor in a strange land,’ ⁴ and [the other was named] EliEzer, because, as [Moses] said: ‘The God of my fathers is my helper and He rescued me from the hand of Pharaoh.’

⁵ Jethro took them to Moses in the desert… to his camp on the Mountain of God. ⁶ And when Moses was told, ‘Look! Your father-in-law Jethro is coming and he’s bringing your wife and two sons with him,’ ⁷ Moses went out to meet them. Then [Moses] bowed before his father-in-law and kissed him, and they hugged each other; then he led them into his tent, ⁸ where Moses told his father-in-law everything that Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, of all the things that had happened to them along the way, and of how Jehovah had rescued them from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

⁹ Well, Jethro was amazed at all the good things that Jehovah had done for them by rescuing them. ¹⁰ And Jethro said, ‘Praise Jehovah, because He rescued them from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I now know that Jehovah is higher than all [other] gods, and that’s why [the children of Israel] were attacked.’

¹² Then Jethro presented whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for God, and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat bread before God along with Moses’ father-in-law.

¹³ Well, the next morning, Moses sat down to [serve as] judge for the people, and they [kept coming to] Moses all day long. ¹⁴ And when Jethro noticed all that [Moses was doing], he asked, ‘Why are you sitting there all by yourself as the people come to you from morning until night?’

¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, ‘Well, the people are coming to me to receive God’s decisions. ¹⁶ Because, whenever they have a disagreement, they come to me and I judge each [case]. I teach them the Laws of God and [I judge by] His Laws.’

¹⁷ However, Moses’ father-in-law told him, ‘You aren’t handling this thing right, ¹⁸ for this will just wear you down, and your people will get tired of it too. You won’t be able to keep doing this all by yourself. ¹⁹ So, listen to me; I’m going to tell you what to do, and God will be with you.

‘You can be [the one] who [leads] the people in matters that pertain to God, and you can take their problems before God. ²⁰ You should also [teach] them God’s [ways] and His Laws, and show them how to act and the things that they should be doing. ²¹ But, keep an eye out among the people for capable, righteous men who fear God… righteous men who hate pride. Then appoint them as chiefs over thousands, chiefs over hundreds, chiefs over fifties, and chiefs over tens… ²² let them spend all their time judging. And whenever a problem is too great, then they should bring it to you. Let them help you free up your [time] by judging the smaller cases. ²³ And if you do that, God will strengthen you, you will [have time to take care of more important matters], and these people will [return to their tents] more peacefully.’

²⁴ Well, Moses paid attention to his father-in-law’s suggestion and did everything he said. ²⁵ He chose capable men throughout all of Israel and made them chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens. ²⁶ Then they judged the people, and whenever a matter was too weighty, they brought it to Moses, while they judged the lighter matters.

²⁷ Then Moses [said goodbye] to his father-in-law, and [Jethro] returned to his own land.

Chapter 19

¹ It was on the same day (in the third month after the children of Israel left the land of Egypt) that they arrived in the Sinai desert. ² They had left RaphiDin and traveled through the desert to Sinai; and Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

³ Then Moses climbed the Mountain of God, and God called to him on the mountain, saying, ‘You must tell this to the house of Jacob, and report [My words] to the children of Israel: ⁴ You have seen all that I’ve done to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you as on the wings of eagles and brought you close to Me. ⁵ Now, if you will listen to what I tell you and keep My Sacred Agreement, you will be a special people to Me that will be higher than all other nations. And because the whole earth is Mine, ⁶ you will become a holy nation and My Royal Priesthood.

‘Now, [go] and tell this to the children of Israel!’

⁷ So Moses went back and called the people’s elders, and laid out what God said and how He said it. ⁸ And all the people answered unanimously, saying, ‘We will listen to and obey everything that God has said!’ And Moses reported their words to God.

⁹ Then Jehovah told Moses, ‘{Look!} I’m going to come to you in a column of clouds, so the people can hear Me speaking to you. Then they will believe you through the age.’ And Moses reported what Jehovah said back to the people.

¹⁰ Then Jehovah said to Moses, ‘Go down and give solemn instructions to the people. They must be cleansed both today and tomorrow, and they must wash their clothes. ¹¹ Make sure they are ready by the third day, because on the third day the Lord will descend to Mount Sinai before all the people. ¹² And make sure that they keep themselves some distance from the mountain. Tell them: Be careful not to step on any part of the mountain, or to touch any part of it. For, anyone who touches the mountain will surely die. ¹³ No hand should touch it, and anyone who does must be pelted with rocks or shot through with arrows… whether it’s a man or animal, [he or she] will not live… they can only climb the mountain after the voices, trumpeting, and clouds are gone.’

¹⁴ So Moses went down the mountain to the people. He then cleansed them and [had them] wash their clothes. ¹⁵ And he told them, ‘Get ready… and for the next three days, no [man] should even get close to a woman!’

¹⁶ So, as the morning of the third day dawned, there were voices; there was lightning; there was a dark cloud on Sinai; and there was trumpeting that was so loud the people in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood there close to the camp.

¹⁸ Then the whole mountain started to smoke, because God had descended upon it in fire. And the smoke kept rising as though it was a furnace, and the people were all in awe.

¹⁹ Well, the trumpeting got even louder as Moses spoke. Then God answered him with a voice… ²⁰ Jehovah came down to the top of Mount Sinai and He called Moses, [telling him to come] to the top of the mountain! So, Moses went up, ²¹ then God told Moses: ‘Go down and warn the people [again], for fear that that they might come closer to see God, which will cause many of them to [die]. ²² And make sure that any Priests who come close to Jehovah God have cleansed themselves, so He doesn’t [have to] destroy some of them!’

²³ Then Moses said to God, ‘The people won’t be able to approach Mount Sinai, because You warned us, saying, Set boundaries around the mountain and make it holy.’

²⁴ Then the Lord told him: ‘Now, go down [the mountain] and bring Aaron back with you. But don’t allow the Priests or the people to force their way up to God, for fear that Jehovah will destroy them.’

²⁵ So Moses went [back] down to the people and reminded them [again].

Chapter 20

¹ Then Jehovah said all of this:

² ‘I am Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery. ³ So you must have no gods other than Me.

⁴ ‘You must not make images for yourselves of anything in the skies above, on the earth below, or of things that live in the water under the earth. ⁵ You must not bow before them or serve them, for I Jehovah your God am a zealous God, and I bring the sins of the ancestors upon the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of those who hate Me. ⁶ But I am merciful to the thousands who love Me and keep My Commandments.

⁷ ‘You must not misuse the Name of your God Jehovah, for Jehovah your God will not forgive those who misuse His Name.

⁸ ‘Keep the Sabbath day and make it holy. ⁹ You may work and get everything done in six days, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath of your God Jehovah, and you must do no work… not you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your ox, your burro, any of your cattle, or any strangers that are visiting among you. ¹¹ Because, Jehovah made the sky, the ground, the seas and everything in them, then He rested on the seventh day. So Jehovah blest the seventh day and made it holy.

¹² ‘Honor your father and mother, as Jehovah your God commanded you, so that things may go well for you and that you may live a long time in the land, which Jehovah your God is giving you.

¹³ ‘You must not commit adultery.

¹⁴ ‘You must not steal.

¹⁵ ‘You must not commit murder.

¹⁶ ‘You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.

¹⁷ ‘You must not desire your neighbor’s wife, his house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his burro, any other animal, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.’

¹⁸ Well, [during this time], the people were paying attention to all the thunder and lightning, the sounds of the trumpets, and the smoke on the mountain, and everyone was afraid and backed far away. ¹⁹ So they told Moses, ‘You talk to us… don’t let God talk to us, because we’re afraid that we might die!’

²⁰ And Moses said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, because God didn’t come here to test you or to make you afraid of Him so you won’t sin.’ ²¹ However, the people just backed away.

Then Moses went into the darkness where God was. ²² And Jehovah said to Moses, ‘This is what you must say to the house of Jacob, and what you will report to the children of Israel: You have seen Me speak to you from the sky, ²³ so, don’t make gods of silver or gold for yourselves. ²⁴ You must make an Altar to Me from the dirt wherever I record My name. And you must sacrifice your whole burnt offerings upon it, as well as your peace offerings and your sheep and calves. Then I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵ ‘Now, if you build a stone Altar to Me, don’t use cut stones; because, if you use tools on them, they will become unclean. ²⁶ Nor should you build any steps to My Altar, so the naked [parts of your bodies] can be seen from there.’

Chapter 21

¹ ‘Now, these are the Laws that you are to show to them:

² ‘If you buy a Hebrew slave, he may only serve you for six years, and in the seventh year he must be set free without cost. ³ If he comes alone, he must leave alone; but if his wife comes with him, then his wife must also leave with him. ⁴ However, if his master gives him a wife and she gives birth to sons or daughters; she and her children belong to the master, so [the slave] will leave alone. ⁵ But if the slave should say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, so I don’t want to leave free, ⁶ his master should bring him to the judgment-seat of God and take him up to the door, where he will use an awl to punch [a hole through] his [slave’s] ear against the doorframe. [This signifies] that he will serve [his master] through the age.

⁷ ‘And if anyone sells his daughter as a house slave, she isn’t to leave [her master] as other female slaves leave. ⁸ If she hasn’t been pleasing to her master after she has been involved with him, he may only set her free… he can’t sell her to some foreigner after he has messed with her. ⁹ But if he has engaged her to his son, he must treat her as a daughter. ¹⁰ However, if he takes someone for himself, he must never deprive her of her clothing, her needs, or her companionship with him. ¹¹ If he refuses to do these three things for her, she must be set free at no cost.

¹² ‘If any man hits another and kills him, he must absolutely be put to death. ¹³ But if it happens by accident, or if God [allows the situation that causes the death], I will provide a place where the killer can run to. ¹⁴ However, if someone who lies in wait and plans to murder his neighbor runs to the refuge, you must take him [far] from My Altar and put him to death.

¹⁵ ‘Whoever beats his father or mother must be put to death, ¹⁶ and whoever calls his father or mother bad names must die.

¹⁷ ‘If someone overpowers and kidnaps one of the children of Israel and sells him, or if he’s caught with him, [the kidnapper] must die.

¹⁸ ‘If two men are shouting at each other and one hits the other with a rock or his fist, and he doesn’t die but is laid up in bed, ¹⁹ the man who hit him will be cleared if the other can get up and walk (even with the aid of a cane), as long as he pays for the lost time and the cost of his healing.

²⁰ ‘If a man hits his male or female slave with a cane and the person dies as the result, he must be punished. ²¹ However, if the slave continues to live a few days after that, the master shouldn’t be punished, because it’s his own loss.

²² ‘If two men are fighting and [one] hits a pregnant woman, and her child is born deformed as the result, he must be forced to pay whatever amount the woman’s husband demands of him. ²³ But if the child is born perfectly formed [but injured], he must pay: life for life, ²⁴ eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burning for burning, wound for wound, whipping for whipping.

²⁶ ‘If someone should hit his male or female slave in the eye and put it out, that slave should be set free because of the eye injury. ²⁷ And if he [breaks or knocks out] the tooth of his male or female slave, that slave should be set free because of the tooth.

²⁸ ‘If a bull gores a man or woman and he or she dies, the bull must be stoned to death and its flesh can’t be eaten… however, the bull’s owner will be [free of guilt]. ²⁹ But if the bull has been known to gore before and the owner was told and hasn’t done anything about it, and then it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and its owner must also die. ³⁰ However, if a ransom is demanded instead, he must pay whatever they ask for his life.

³¹ ‘If a bull gores someone’s son or daughter, it must be handled according to the law that was given. ³² But if the bull gores a male or female slave, their master must be paid thirty double-silver coins, and the bull must be stoned.

³³ ‘If anyone digs an open pit or a hole in rock and then fails to cover it, and an ox or a burro falls into it, ³⁴ the owner of the pit must pay a compensation to [the animal’s] owner, but the dead [animal] will be his.

³⁵ ‘And if a man’s bull should gore his neighbor’s bull and kill it, they must sell the living bull and divide the money, then divide up the dead bull. ³⁶ However, if the bull has been known to gore in the past and his owner knew of this and didn’t do anything about it, he must pay for the bull, and the dead one won’t be his.’

Chapter 22

¹ ‘If someone steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back five calves for a calf, and four sheep for a sheep. ² And if a thief should be caught inside a fence and is beaten and dies as the result, no one will be found guilty [of killing him]. ³ However, if someone [kills a thief] the next day, he is guilty and should be [put to death].

‘If a thief has nothing left [of what he stole], he can be sold [as a slave] to repay what he has stolen. ⁴ But if the thing he stole is still around and can be found alive in his possession (as with an ox or a sheep), he must pay back twice as much.

⁵ ‘And if anyone [has allowed his cattle] to strip his field or vineyard, and then he sends his animals to graze in someone else’s field; he must [pay his neighbor back] from the produce of his own field. But if the animals strip [his neighbor’s] entire field, he must pay with the best of his field and the best of his vineyard.

⁶ ‘Now, if [someone sets a] fire (even if he thinks it has gone out) and it burns a threshing floor or a field of grain, the one who sets the fire must pay a compensation.

⁷ ‘And if anyone gives his neighbor money or other [valuables] to keep, and they are stolen from the man’s house; the thief must repay double if he’s caught. ⁸ But if the thief isn’t caught, the owner of the house must stand before God and swear that he hasn’t done anything wrong to whatever his neighbor left with him. ⁹ Then every accusation, whether it involves a calf, a burro, a sheep, some clothing (or whatever)… every claim of loss must be taken before God. And anyone that is found guilty by God must repay his neighbor with twice as much.

¹⁰ ‘And if anyone leaves a calf, a sheep, or any other animal with his neighbor and it is wounded or it dies – and no one knows for sure how it happened – ¹¹ each must swear an oath to God that he isn’t guilty in any way. Then his master should find him innocent and he won’t have to pay any compensation. ¹² However, if it was stolen from him, he must repay the owner. ¹³ And if someone stole any other type of animal, [he must] return the animal to its owner, and he won’t have to pay a compensation.

¹⁴ ‘If anyone borrows [an animal] from his neighbor and it is then wounded, or dies, or is stolen while its owner is away, he must be compensated for it. ¹⁵ But if the owner is there, he doesn’t have to pay compensation. And if it is something that he rented, [the owner] must be paid back in lieu of his rent.

¹⁶ ‘If anyone deceives a virgin that he isn’t engaged to and [has sex] with her, he must take her as his wife. ¹⁷ But if her father refuses and won’t consent to giving her as his wife, he must pay her father the amount of dowry that is required for a virgin.

¹⁸ ‘You shouldn’t spare the lives of witches.

¹⁹ ‘Anyone who [has sex] with an animal must be put to death.

²⁰ ‘Anyone who offers sacrifices to a god other than Jehovah must be put to death.

²¹ ‘You must not harm strangers or oppress them, because you were once strangers in the land of Egypt.

²² ‘You must not do anything to harm widows or orphans. ²³ For, if you do treat them badly, they should call out to Me and I will hear them… ²⁴ and that will make Me very angry. Then you will be killed with a sword, so your wife will become a widow and your children will become orphans.

²⁵ If you lend money to one of your poor brothers who lives nearby, you shouldn’t be hard on him and you shouldn’t charge him interest. ²⁶ And if you take your neighbor’s clothes as security, you must make sure that he gets them back before sunset, ²⁷ because they are all that cover his nakedness; so, where can he sleep? And if he calls out to Me, I will listen, because I am merciful.

²⁸ ‘You should never speak badly of God, or say bad things about the rulers of your people.

²⁹ ‘You must never hold back the first fruitage of your threshing floor [or of your wine] press.

‘You must give your first-born sons to Me, ³⁰ as well as those of your calves, sheep, and burros. They may stay under their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day, you must offer them to Me.

³¹ ‘You must be a holy [people] to Me; therefore, you may not eat the flesh of wild animals… you should throw it to the dogs.’

Chapter 23

¹ ‘You should not accept false testimony, nor should you allow someone who is crooked to provide false testimony.

² ‘You must not join a mob to do bad things, nor should you agree with the majority when they are wrong.

³ ‘If a man is found guilty, you must not [free him from his responsibilities] just because he’s poor, ⁴ nor should you [find any man guilty] because he’s poor.

⁵ ‘If you find your enemy’s ox or burro wandering loose, you must catch it and return it to him. ⁶ And if you see your enemy’s burro collapsed under its load, you shouldn’t just pass it by. You should help him to get it back on its feet.

⁷ ‘Never do anything that’s unfair. You shouldn’t kill the innocent along with the guilty, or accept a bribe to find a guilty person innocent. ⁸ You shouldn’t accept gifts [when judging], because gifts blind the eyes of those who can see and twist the words of justice.

⁹ ‘You should never mistreat a stranger, because you know how they feel, since you were once strangers in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ ‘You can plant your field and harvest it for six years. ¹¹ However, every seven years you must leave it alone and allow it to rest, so the poor of your nation can [find] food there, and the wild animals can eat whatever is left. And that’s what you must do to your vineyard and to your olive grove as well.

¹² ‘You should work for six days, but the seventh day is a day of rest, so your burro, ox, and the sons of your female slaves and strangers can be refreshed.

¹³ ‘Obey everything that I have commanded you, and don’t even mention the names of other gods or speak of them in any way.

¹⁴ ‘You must hold a feast to Me three times a year. ¹⁵ Make sure to observe the Feast of Fermentation-Free Bread. You must eat fermentation-free bread for seven days (as I told you before) during the time of the month of new grain, because that’s when you came out of Egypt… and don’t come to Me empty-handed!

¹⁶ ‘You must observe a feast when you harvest the first-fruits of your work, no matter what you have planted in your field. And [you must observe] a feast at the end of the year when you harvest the crops in your field. ¹⁷ So, all your males must appear before Jehovah your God three times each year.

¹⁸ ‘And when I drive the other nations out of your midst and widen your borders, you must never offer fermented bread with the blood sacrifices that you offer to Me, nor should the fat of My feast be allowed to stay until the next morning.

¹⁹ ‘You must bring all the first fruitage of your fields to the House of your God Jehovah.

‘You must never boil a lamb in its mother’s milk.

²⁰ ‘{Look!} I’m going to send My messenger to you, to keep you headed in the right direction, and he will lead you into the land that I have prepared for you. ²¹ Be sure to listen to him… obey him! He won’t give in to you, because he carries My Name.

²² ‘If you listen to what I tell you, do everything that I tell you to do, and keep My Sacred Agreement, you will be a special people to Me above all other nations; for the whole earth is Mine. Then you will become a holy nation of Royal Priests.

‘Tell the children of Israel that if they will listen to what I say and do everything that I tell them, I will be an enemy to their enemies, and I will oppose anyone who is against them. ²³ Then I will send My messenger to be their leader, and [he will] will bring them to [the land of] the Amorites, Chettites, Pherezites, CanaAnites, Gergesites, Evites, and Jebusites, and then I will destroy them. ²⁴ But they must not worship or serve the gods [of those people], nor should they do any of the things that they are doing. Rather, they must all be destroyed and their [sacred] columns must be pulled down.

²⁵ ‘If you serve Jehovah your God, I will bless your bread, your wine, and your water; and I will keep you from getting sick. ²⁶ There won’t be anyone in your land who is impotent or infertile, and you will live a full life. ²⁷ I will send terror ahead you, all the nations in the land you’re entering will be amazed by you, and I will make all your enemies run from you. ²⁸ I will send hornets ahead of you, and you will drive the Amorites, Evites, CanaAnites, and the Chettites away from you. ²⁹ I won’t throw them out the first year, so the fields don’t grow wild and allow wild animals to multiply there. ³⁰ But before long, I will start throwing them out ahead of you, until you grow and inherit the land. ³¹ Then I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the [Mediterranean], and from the desert to the great Euphrates River.

‘I will hand over those who are living in the land and drive them away from you, ³² so you are to make no treaties with them or their gods. ³³ And they won’t be allowed to live in your land, for fear that they might cause you to sin against Me. Because, if you serve their gods, that [would be a serious] offense for you.’

Chapter 24

¹ Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘I want you, Aaron, Nadab, AbiUd, and seventy of Israel’s elders to come to Me and bow before [Me] from a distance. ² And thereafter, I want you to come close to Me by yourself… none of the others should come any closer!’

³ So, Moses went and told the people about everything God had said and about His Laws. And the people unanimously answered all together, ‘We will do and obey everything that Jehovah has said!’

⁴ Then Moses [sat down] and wrote everything that Jehovah said. And early the next morning, he built an Altar at the base of the mountain using twelve stones [to represent] the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men from the children of Israel to offer up whole burnt offerings and to sacrifice young calves as a peace offering to God. ⁶ Then Moses took half of the blood and poured it into bowls, and he poured the other half on the Altar.

⁷ Thereafter, [Moses] took the scroll of the Sacred Agreement [that he wrote] and read it to the people. And they [again] said, ‘We will do and pay attention to everything that Jehovah has said.’

⁸ Then Moses took the blood [from the bowls] and sprinkled it on the people, and he said: ‘{Look!} This is the blood of the Sacred Agreement that Jehovah has made with you over the things that you’ve [agreed to].’

⁹ And thereafter, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, AbiUd, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up [the mountain], ¹⁰ where they saw the place where the God of Israel was standing; and under His feet [they saw] what looked like slabs of cut sapphires that were as pure as the sky. ¹¹ So all the chosen ones of Israel stood there in the presence of God… none were missing, and none of them ate or drank anything.

¹² Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘[I want you to] come [back] up the mountain to Me and stay here, for I will give you the tablets of stone containing the Law and Commandments that I have written.’

¹³ So [the next day], Moses got up and took his assistant JoShua to climb the mountain of God with him. ¹⁴ And they told the elders, ‘Rest here until we return. Look! Aaron and Or will be here with you; so if there are any [cases] that have to be tried, let them handle it.’

¹⁵ Then Moses and JoShua climbed the mountain, which was shrouded in a cloud. ¹⁶ And the glory of God came down on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. Then Jehovah called Moses from the midst of the cloud on the seventh day.

¹⁷ Well, to the Children of Israel, the glory of Jehovah looked like a fire that was burning on top of the mountain.

¹⁸ Then Moses entered the cloud and climbed the mountain, where he stayed for forty days and forty nights.

Chapter 25

¹ And there Jehovah told Moses: ² ‘Speak to the children of Israel and [ask for] the first fruits of everything that their hearts are willing to give… then you must [collect] it. ³ These are the offerings that you are to ask for: gold, silver, and brass; ⁴ as well as blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], fine-spun linen, goats’ hair, ⁵ rams’ skins that are dyed red and blue, and durable wood. ⁶ [You will also ask for] lamp oil, fragrances for anointing oil, ingredients for incense, ⁷ as well as rubies and other [precious] stones that will fit into a breastplate, and a full-length robe.

⁸ ‘You must also make a Sacred Place for Me, where I can appear among you. ⁹ Everything you make for Me must follow the patterns that I will show you on the Mountain. There will be a pattern for the Sacred Place and patterns for all of its furnishings. And that’s how you are to make them.

¹⁰ ‘You must also build the Chest of Proofs. [Build it] from durable wood fifty inches wide, thirty inches deep, and thirty inches tall. ¹¹ Cover it with pure gold both inside and out, and put twisted gold wreaths around it. ¹² You must create four gold rings for it, and mount two rings on each side. ¹³ Then make [two] staves of durable wood, cover them with gold, ¹⁴ and put the staves into the rings on the sides of the Chest, to carry it. ¹⁵ These staves should always be left in the rings on the Chest.

¹⁶ ‘Then you must put the Proofs that I will give you inside the Chest.

¹⁷ ‘You must also make the Propitiatory. It is to be a lid of pure gold, fifty inches long and thirty inches wide. ¹⁸ And you will carve two cherubs from gold and mount them on the Propitiatory. ¹⁹ A cherub will be mounted on this side of the Propitiatory, and a cherub will be mounted on its other side, so there will be cherubs on either end. ²⁰ The cherubs will face each other with their heads bowed toward the Propitiatory. And they must have wings that are outstretched over them [extending forward] over the Propitiatory. ²¹ Then the Propitiatory must be put on top of the Chest, which will contain the Proofs that I will give you.

²² ‘This is where I will make My presence known to you. I will speak to you from above the Propitiatory, between the two cherubs on the Chest of Proofs, and talk to you and instruct you concerning everything that has to do with the children of Israel.

²³ ‘You are also to make a table of pure gold that is forty inches long, twenty inches wide, and thirty inches tall. ²⁴ It must have gold wreaths going around it and a six-inch crown under it ²⁵ that has a twisted wreath circling it.

²⁶ ‘You must also make four gold rings and fasten them to the four feet under the crown. ²⁷ These rings will be the supports for staves that will be used to carry the table. ²⁸ The staves should be made of durable wood and covered with pure gold, for carrying the table.

²⁹ ‘You should also make dishes, incense burners, bowls, and cups (for drink offerings) of pure gold. ³⁰ They will always be set before Me on the table of Show Bread.

³¹ ‘You must also shape a lampstand from pure gold. The whole thing – it’s stem, branches, sockets, knobs, and lilies – will be a single piece. ³² It is to have six branches that come from its sides… three branches for lamps on one side and three branches for lamps on the other side. ³³ [Each branch] that comes from the lampstand should be topped with an almond-shaped socket [to hold the lamps], which is to be mounted above a knob and a lily. ³⁴ Each will have four sockets that are shaped like almonds, and the knobs and flowers on each branch should be the same. ³⁵ There will be a knob under two branches and a knob under four branches that come from it, so that six branches come from the lampstand, and each will have four bowls shaped like almonds. ³⁶ The knobs and the branches must be a single piece that is carved from a block of pure gold. ³⁷ So, there must be seven lamps that all shine from the same side.

³⁸ ‘And you will make funnels and serving plates of pure gold. ³⁹ They should each be made with a measurement of pure gold, ⁴⁰ using the pattern that I will show you on the mountain.’

Chapter 26

¹ ‘Then you must make the Tent with ten curtains of fine-spun linen, blue [thread], purple [yarn], and scarlet [cloth], with a pattern of cherubs woven into them. ² The curtains on [each side must run] forty-seven feet, and each curtain must be six and three-quarters feet tall. All the curtains should be the same size. ³ Five of the curtains must be joined to each other, and the other five must be closely connected to each other.

⁴ ‘You must put blue loops on one side of each curtain and [loops] on the other side to [tie them] together. ⁵ There should be fifty loops [on one side] and fifty loops at the same locations on the other side to connect them. ⁶ Then you must make fifty gold rings to hold the curtains together and make it a single Tent.

⁷ ‘You must make a roof for the Tent using eleven sections of [goat hair cloth]. ⁸ Each should be fifty feet long, six and three-quarters feet wide, and all eleven [cloths] should be the same size. ⁹ Then connect [the cloths in strips of] fives, and attach the sixth [cloth] and fold it over the front of the Tent. ¹⁰ Then make fifty loops on the side of the [cloth] and fifty loops on the edge of the second one, where they will be joined.

¹¹ ‘Then make fifty brass rings and use them to connect the loops, and tie the [cloths] together to form a single piece.

¹² ‘Next, connect the [eleventh cloth] to the roof of the Tent at its centerfold, and allow half of it to hang down. And any extra [cloth] should hang over the sides of the Tent. ¹³ Twenty inches of [cloth] should hang over each side of the Tent to cover it. ¹⁴ Then make another covering from rams’ skins that have been dyed red and blue, and put it over the [Tent] roof.

¹⁵ ‘Then you must make tent posts from durable wood. ¹⁶ Each post should be seven and three-quarters feet long and two and a half feet thick. ¹⁷ All the posts should have two joints for connections. ¹⁸ You should make twenty posts for the north side, ¹⁹ and forty silver sockets should be made to connect them, with a [base] socket for each of the posts. ²⁰ Then make twenty posts for the south side of the Tent, ²¹ and forty silver sockets to connect each end of the posts. ²² And for the side of the Tent that faces west, ²³ you must make six posts plus two corner posts for its backside. ²⁴ They must all be the same and join at the same spots on each end, so all the corners are equal. ²⁵ So, [for the backside] there are eight posts, which need sixteen silver sockets, one for each end of each post.

²⁶ ‘And you must make rafters of durable wood. Make five for the posts on one side of the Tent, ²⁷ five for the posts on the other side of the Tent, five for the posts in the rear, and one for the side of the Tent that faces the sea. ²⁸ This center rafter should run between the posts lengthwise from end to end. ²⁹ The posts should be covered with gold and fitted with gold rings to hold the rafters, and all the rafters must be covered with gold. ³⁰ Then you must assemble the Tent according to the pattern that I will show you on the mountain.

³¹ ‘Thereafter, you must make a veil of spun blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], and fine-spun linen that will have cherubs woven into it. ³² And you must mount it on four posts of durable wood that are overlaid with gold, with gold covering each of their caps and silver sockets for the base of each. ³³ Then mount the veil on the posts and carry it inside, as a veil for the Chest of Proofs. This veil will form the separation between the Holy Place and the Holiest of Holies. ³⁴ Use the veil as a screen for the Chest of Proofs in the Holiest of Holies.

³⁵ ‘Next, put a table outside the veil and put the lampstand opposite the table, on the south side of the Tent. Then put the table on the north side of the Tent.

³⁶ ‘Then make a veil as a door for the Tent out of blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], and embroidered fine-spun linen. ³⁷ You must make five posts for the veil that are capped at the top and covered with gold, with brass sockets for the base of each.

Chapter 27

¹ ‘Then you must make an Altar of durable wood that will be square, eight and a quarter feet long, eight and a quarter feet wide, and five feet high. ² You must create horns for each of the four corners. They will be made of a single piece and overlaid with brass. ³ You must make a rim for the Altar, and a covering, and cups, and meat hooks, a fire pan, and all its utensils from brass. ⁴ You must also make a brass meshed grating with four brass rings, one for each of its four sides. ⁵ Mount the rings under the grating and center it in the middle of the Altar.

⁶ ‘You must also make Altar staves from durable wood that are to be overlaid with brass. ⁷ Then put the staves into the rings on each side of the Altar, to carry it. ⁸ [The Altar] will be hollow and made from wood in a way that will be shown [to you] on the mountain.

⁹ ‘You must also make a courtyard for the Tent. On the south side, its curtains should be made of fine-spun linen and they will will run a hundred and sixty-seven feet long. ¹⁰ They will require twenty posts and twenty brass sockets, as well as silver rings and clasps. ¹¹ The curtains on the north side will also run a hundred and sixty-seven feet long, with twenty posts, twenty brass sockets, as well as the rings and the clasps for the posts. However, their sockets must be overlaid with silver. ¹² The curtains on the western side of the [courtyard] must run eighty-four feet with ten posts and ten sockets. ¹³ And the width of the [courtyard] on the south side should have curtains that run eighty-four feet, with ten posts and ten sockets.

¹⁴ ‘There must be a twenty-five foot [awning] on one side of the [courtyard entrance], which is to be [supported by] three posts and three sockets. ¹⁵ And on the other side, there must be an [awning] that runs twenty-five feet, with three posts and three sockets.

¹⁶ ‘The courtyard entrance must be a thirty-three-foot-high veil of blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], and fine-spun embroidered linen. It should have four posts and four sockets. ¹⁷ All the courtyard posts are to be overlaid with silver, with silver caps and brass sockets.

¹⁸ ‘So, the length of the courtyard will be a hundred and sixty-three feet, its width should be eighty-two feet, and its height must be eight feet… all of fine spun linen mounted on sockets of brass. ¹⁹ And all the furnishings, instruments, and pins for the courtyard are [to be made of] brass.

²⁰ ‘Now, give instructions to the children of Israel, and have them bring you pure, refined olive oil that has been beaten for burning in a lamp, so the lamps may be kept burning continually ²¹ inside the Tent of Proofs and outside the veil that hides the Chest of the Sacred Agreement. Aaron and his sons must keep them burning all night long before Jehovah. This is the rule that must be followed throughout all generations of the children of Israel.’

Chapter 28

¹ ‘Now, I want you to choose your brother Aaron and his sons Nadab, AbiUd, EliEzer, and IthaMar, who are all children of Israel, to be My servants. ² You must make holy clothing for your brother Aaron, to honor and glorify [him]. ³ So, talk to all the wise and understanding [people] that I have filled with the spirit of wisdom and comprehension, and have them make holy clothing for Aaron to wear in the Holy Place, where he will serve as a Priest to Me. ⁴ These are the clothes that they must make: a breastplate, a shoulder piece, a full-length robe, a fringed tunic, a turban, and a waistband. These are to be holy garments for Aaron and his sons to serve Me as Priests.

⁵ ‘They must take gold and fine-spun linen with blue [thread], purple [yarn], and scarlet [cloth], and ⁶ embroider the shoulder pieces. ⁷ Both shoulder pieces must be joined together and fastened on each side. ⁸ They should be woven as a single piece of pure gold with blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen.

⁹ ‘Then you must take two large emeralds and engrave the names of Israel’s sons on them, ¹⁰ with six names on the first stone and the other six names on the second stone, in the order their births. ¹¹ It must be done artistically by a stone engraver, in raised letters like a seal, for each of the names of the children of Israel. ¹² Then mount these two stones on the shoulder pieces. They are to be memorial stones of the children of Israel, and Aaron will wear the names of the children of Israel before Jehovah on his shoulders in memory of them.

¹³ ‘Then you must make [two] small circles of pure gold, ¹⁴ and two fringes of variegated flowers and wreaths of pure gold, then mount the wreathed fringes on the small circles and fasten them to the front of the shoulder pieces.

¹⁵ ‘Then you must make the Expression of Judgment. It is to be embroidered; and to keep the theme of the rest of the sacred clothing, you should make it of gold, blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], and fine-spun linen. ¹⁶ Make it square, nine inches long and nine inches wide, and doubled. ¹⁷ Then four columns of stones should be woven into it. The first column will have a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald. ¹⁸ The second column will have a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a jasper. ¹⁹ The third column will have a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. ²⁰ And the fourth column will have a peridot, a beryl, and an onyx. All should be mounted in gold settings with gold clasps. Make sure they’re assembled in that order. ²¹ Then each stone must be engraved like a seal with the names of the twelve children of Israel in their order. ²² The Expression of Judgment must also have woven fringed chains of pure gold.

²³ ‘Aaron will wear the Expression of Judgment with the names of the children of Israel on his chest as a memorial before God whenever he enters the Holy Place. ²⁴ The Expression of Judgment must be fringed and have wreaths on either side.

²⁵ ‘You must place a small circle on the upper-front shoulders on each side of the sacred vest. ²⁶ You are to put the Revelation and the Truth on the Expression of Judgment, and Aaron will wear it on his chest whenever he enters the Holy Place before Jehovah. So, he will always carry the judgments of the children of Israel on his chest before Jehovah.

²⁷ And you are to make a full-length blue tunic. ²⁸ It will have a fringed front opening and it will be woven as a single piece, so it can’t be torn. ²⁹ And under the fringes below the robe, there are to be pomegranate flowers made of blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], and fine-spun linen, with gold pomegranates of the same shape, and bells between them. ³⁰ There should be a bell beside each gold pomegranate, and a pattern of flowers in the fringes of the robe that encircle it.

³¹ ‘And whenever Aaron is serving and entering or leaving the Holy Place of Jehovah, he must speak loudly so he doesn’t die.

³² ‘You are also to make a plate of pure gold that is engraved with the sign, Jehovah is Holy, ³³ and put this on the spun blue cloth on the front of the turban, ³⁴ so it will always be on Aaron’s forehead to carry away sins. Then all the children of Israel will have their gifts made holy and acceptable to Jehovah on their behalf. ³⁵ All the fringes on his clothes must be made of fine linen, and you will make a head covering and a waist sash of fine embroidered linen.

³⁶ ‘You must also make tunics and sashes for Aaron’s sons, as well as turbans so they may be honored and glorified. ³⁷ Then you must dress your brother Aaron and his sons, and anoint them… empower them and make them holy, so they can serve Me as Priests.

³⁸ ‘And make linen shorts (to cover the naked parts of their bodies) that run from their waists to their thighs. ³⁹ Then Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Holy Place of Proofs and when they serve at the Altar of the Holy Place, so they won’t bring sin upon themselves and die. This is the rule for him and his seed through the ages.’

Chapter 29

¹ ‘These are the things that you must do to them to make [Aaron and his sons] holy, so they can serve Me as Priests: Take one young calf from the herd and two perfect rams. ² Then make some fermentation-free bread with the finest wheat flour that has been kneaded with oil, and some fermentation-free round cakes with oil poured over them. ³ Then put them into a basket to be offered along with the young calf and the two rams.

⁴ ‘Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Proofs and wash them with water. ⁵ Get the [sacred] garments and dress your brother Aaron with the full-length robe, the chest covering, and the Expression (of Judgment), and tie the Expression to the chest covering. ⁶ Then put the turban on his head and mount the plate of Holiness on the turban, ⁷ and take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it over his head. ⁸ After that, bring his sons and dress them… ⁹ wrap them with sashes and put on their turbans to create a Priesthood for Me through the ages.

‘Then you must empower Aaron and his sons. ¹⁰ Bring the calf to the entrance of the Tent of Proofs and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands upon the calf’s head before Jehovah. ¹¹ And then you must slaughter the calf before Jehovah, there at the entrance to the Tent of Proofs. ¹² Then take the calf’s blood and wipe it on the horns of the Altar with your finger, and pour the rest of the blood out at the base of the Altar. ¹³ Then take all its belly fat, its liver, and its kidneys, along with any fat that’s on them, and [burn] them on the Altar. ¹⁴ However, the calf’s flesh, skin, and manure must be burned outside the camp as an [offering] for sins.

¹⁵ ‘Then, take one of the rams, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head ¹⁶ and slaughter it. Collect the blood and pour it on and around the Altar, ¹⁷ then cut the ram into several pieces and wash the insides and the feet with water, and set the pieces and the head aside. ¹⁸ Then you must put the whole ram on the Altar as a burnt offering and a sweet-smelling delight to Jehovah. It will be like incense to Jehovah.

¹⁹ ‘Then take the second ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head; ²⁰ you must slaughter it and collect the blood, and touch a little of the blood to the tip of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe on his right foot. [Then touch some of it to] the tips of his sons’ right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet. ²¹ Then take some of the blood from the Altar and [mix it with] anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his clothes, and on his sons and on his sons’ clothing. This will purify him and his clothing, and his sons and their clothing. Then pour the rest of the blood out around the Altar.

²² ‘Then [set aside] all of the ram’s fat, including the belly fat, the liver, the kidneys and any fat on them, and the right shoulder, to complete [the ceremony]. ²³ And take one of the round cakes [that had been covered] with oil and one loaf from the basket of fermentation-free bread, and set them before Jehovah; ²⁴ then give the rest to Aaron and his sons. But the [loaf and the round cake] must be offered separately to Jehovah; ²⁵ take them from the hands of the Priests and put them on the Altar, then burn them as offerings of sweet-smelling delights to Jehovah.

²⁶ ‘Then you must remove the ram’s breast at the end of ceremony for Aaron, to be offered before Jehovah. And [the rest] must be shared with you. ²⁷ You must cut up the breast and the shoulder that was removed from the last lamb and give it to Aaron and his sons. ²⁸ This will be a requirement for the children of Israel and for Aaron and his sons through the ages. This is to be a separate and special offering to Jehovah from the children of Israel, as one of their peace offerings.

²⁹ ‘The clothing that Aaron wears inside the Sacred Place must be passed on to his [future generations, after he dies]. Then his sons will be anointed in them and empowered when they wear them. ³⁰ The Priests among his descendants that succeed him and enter the Tent of Proofs to serve in the Most Holy will wear them for seven days.

³¹ ‘You must boil the flesh of the last lamb in the Holy Place. ³² Then Aaron and his sons will eat the ram’s flesh with the loaves [of bread] in the basket, next to the Tent of Proofs. ³³ They will eat the offerings that were used to make them holy and to empower them. They can’t be eaten by anyone else, because they are holy. ³⁴ And if the sacrificed flesh of the final sacrificial lamb and the bread should be left until the next morning, it must all be burned, not eaten, because it is something holy.

³⁵ ‘You must always do this for Aaron and his sons, just as I’ve told you. The empowerment will take seven days. ³⁶ You must sacrifice the calf for the sin offering on the cleaning day, and then you will clean the Altar where you will sacrifice the last lamb, and anoint it to make it holy. ³⁷ The Altar must be cleaned and made holy for all seven days, because the Altar is very holy, and anyone who touches it must also be holy.

³⁸ ‘These are the sacrifices that you must offer on the Altar: Two perfect yearling lambs must be offered each day, ³⁹ one in the morning and the other in the evening. ⁴⁰ And each lamb should be offered up with three quarts of fine flour that have been mixed with a quart of [olive] oil, along with a quart of wine as a drink offering. ⁴¹ You must offer the same things with the second lamb [that is sacrificed] in the evening (which includes the drink offering), as a sweet-smelling delight to Jehovah. ⁴² This sacrifice is to be offered before Jehovah by all your generations through the ages at the entrance to the Tent of Proofs. That’s where I will be made known to you and where I will speak to you from now on. ⁴³ This is where I will instruct the children of Israel, and where I will be treated as holy in My glory.

⁴⁴ ‘I will make the Tent of Proofs and its Altar holy, and I will make Aaron and his sons holy, so they can serve Me as Priests. ⁴⁵ And here the children of Israel will call to Me, and I will be their God. ⁴⁶ Then they will know that I am Jehovah, the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so they can call on Me and I can be their God.’

Chapter 30

¹ ‘You must also make an incense Altar from durable wood. ² It should be square, twenty inches long, twenty inches wide, and forty inches tall; and it should have horns that are made from a single piece [of wood]. ³ Its grating, all its sides, and its horns should be covered with pure gold. It should have wreathed edges of gold all around, ⁴ and under the wreathes you must put two rings of pure gold on each side, to serve as supports for the staves that you will use to carry it. ⁵ The staves should be made from durable wood and covered with gold.

⁶ ‘Then place [the incense Altar] in front of the veil that [hides] the Chest of Proofs, where I will make My presence known to you. ⁷ Aaron must burn a fine compound of incense on [this Altar] each morning after he puts out the lamps. ⁸ And when Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he must burn incense on it again. So, incense will be offered continuously before Jehovah throughout your generations. ⁹ You must not offer a different type of incense on it, set any fires on it, offer any sacrifices on it, or pour drink offerings on it. ¹⁰ And at the same time each year, Aaron must offer the reconciliation for their generations on its horns with the blood of purification, because it is very holy to Jehovah.’

¹¹ Then The Lord told Moses: ¹² ‘I want you to take a census of the children of Israel, and each [person] must pay Jehovah a ransom for his life, so no one will be destroyed when they are visited. ¹³ This is what everyone who is surveyed must give: half a double-silver coin (or twenty copper coins), which is to be used for the Holy Place as an offering to Jehovah. ¹⁴ Everyone twenty years old and up who answers to the census must pay this offering to Jehovah. ¹⁵ The rich won’t pay any more, and the poor won’t pay any less than the half double-silver coin that they must offer to reconcile their lives with Jehovah. ¹⁶ Then you must take the money that the children of Israel donate and use it for the services at the Tent of Proofs. The children of Israel must always remember to do this, in order to reconcile their lives [with Jehovah].’

¹⁷ And Jehovah spoke to Moses, and said: ¹⁸ ‘You must make a brass bowl with a brass base, for washing. It must be put between the Tent of Proofs and the Altar, and you must fill it with water. ¹⁹ Then Aaron and his sons must use the water to wash their hands and feet. ²⁰ Whenever they enter the Tent of Proofs, they must wash themselves with the water, so they won’t die. And they must do [the same] whenever they go to the Altar for services or to burn sacrifices to Jehovah. ²¹ In addition, they must wash their hands and feet in the water whenever they enter the Tent of Proofs, so they won’t die. This is the rule for him and his descendants through the ages.’

²² Then Jehovah told Moses: ²³ ‘You must also gather these sweet-smelling items for the Holy Place: sixteen pounds of choice myrrh flowers, eight pounds of sweet-smelling cinnamon, eight pounds of sweet-smelling calamus, ²⁴ sixteen pounds of cassia, and a gallon of olive oil. ²⁵ This must then be professionally formulated to make a perfumed holy-anointing oil that is to be used for sacred purposes. ²⁶ Then you must use it to anoint the Tent of Proofs; the Chest inside the Tent of Proofs ²⁷ and all of its furnishings; the lampstand and its furnishings; the Altar of incense; ²⁸ the Altar of whole burnt-offerings and all its furnishings; the table and all its furnishings; and the wash basin. ²⁹ You must cleanse them and make them extremely holy, and then everyone who touches them will become holy. ³⁰ Thereafter, you must anoint Aaron and his sons and cleanse them, so they can serve Me as Priests.

³¹ ‘Then say to the children of Israel: This will be your holy anointing oil throughout your generations. ³² It should never be poured on a man’s skin, and no one should make any of this for themselves using the same formula, because it is holy, and it should be holy to you. ³³ And if anyone makes anything like it and gives it to a stranger, he must be destroyed from among his people.’

³⁴ ‘Also, gather these sweet smelling substances: sweet myrrh oil, snail shells, sweet galbanum, and transparent frankincense. They are to be combined in equal measures ³⁵ in a professional way to make perfumed incense that will be pure and holy. ³⁶ It must be beaten into a fine powder and put in front of the Proofs inside the Tent of Proofs, where I will make My presence known to you. It will be most-holy incense to you, ³⁷ so you shouldn’t make any for yourselves by this formula, because it is something holy to Jehovah. ³⁸ Whoever makes anything like it (so they can smell it) must be destroyed from His people.

Chapter 31

¹ Then Jehovah told Moses: ² ‘{Look!} I have called on BeSeleEl (the son of Urias and the grandson of Or of the tribe of Judah) ³ and I have filled him with the Breath of God, and of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, to be creative in all fields of expertise. ⁴ [He understands] carpentry, how to work with gold, silver, and brass; [how to work with] blue thread, purple yarn, and spun scarlet material; ⁵ stone working; wood crafting… how to do everything. ⁶ So, I have chosen him, as well as EliAb (the son of AchiSamach of the tribe of Dan) and anyone else into whose heart I have put talent, to make everything that I’ve talked to you about. ⁷ [This includes] the Tent of Proofs; the Chest of the Sacred Agreement and the Propitiatory that sits on it; all the furnishings of the Tent; ⁸ the Altars; the table and its furnishings; ⁹ the pure lampstand and its furnishings; the wash bowl and its base; ¹⁰ Aaron’s official garments and the garments of his sons to serve Me as Priests; ¹¹ the anointing oil; and the incense for the Holy Place. They will make these things just the way I’ve told you.’

¹² And Jehovah said to Moses, ¹³ ‘Also, tell the children of Israel to pay attention and keep My Sabbaths, because they are the sign between us through the generations that they know I am Jehovah who makes them holy. ¹⁴ So they must keep the Sabbaths, because this is a holy thing to Jehovah for them, and anyone who dishonors them must be put to death… anyone who works on [that day] must have his life destroyed in the midst of his people. ¹⁵ They may work for six days, but the seventh day is the Sabbath… a holy [day of] rest to Jehovah, and anyone who works on the seventh day must be put to death. ¹⁶ The children of Israel must keep the Sabbaths and obey them throughout their generations. ¹⁷ This is to be an Agreement through the ages between the children of Israel and Me. It is their sign to Me through the ages. Because, Jehovah made the the heavens and the earth in six days; then on the seventh day He stopped and rested.’

¹⁸ And after He finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two Tablets of Proof, which were made of stone and written by the finger of God.

Chapter 32

¹ [After a long time had passed] and the people saw that Moses hadn’t returned from the Mountain, they went to Aaron and demanded: ‘[We want you to] make gods for us to lead us. Because, we don’t know what has become of this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt.’

² So Aaron told them, ‘I want you to take all the gold earrings that your wives and daughters wear in their ears, and bring them to me.’

³ Then everyone took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took them from their hands, [had] them melted, and then had the gold carved into a calf, and he said: ‘O Israel, this is your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’

⁵ And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar in front of it and he proclaimed, ‘Tomorrow [we will hold] a feast to Jehovah.’

⁶ So, early the next morning, he got up and offered whole burnt sacrifices and a peace offering. Then the people sat down to eat and drink, and [afterward] they got up to play.

⁷ Well, Jehovah told Moses, ‘Hurry and descend [the mountain], because the people you brought out of the land of Egypt have sinned! ⁸ How quickly they have left the ways that you’ve shown them. Now they’ve made themselves a calf to worship, and they’ve even offered sacrifices to it, saying, ⁹ O Israel, this is your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ ‘Now leave Me! I’m very angry with them, so I will reject them and make a great nation of you!’

¹¹ But Moses started begging Jehovah. He said: ‘O Jehovah, why are you so angry with the people who You brought out of the land of Egypt with Your mighty arm and with so much power? ¹² Don’t allow the Egyptians to say, He wickedly took them away to kill them in the Mountains and wipe them off the earth. Hold back Your rage and have mercy on the sins of Your people. ¹³ Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the [oath] You made to them when You swore by Your Name, saying, I will cause your seed to increase so much that [they will be] like the stars in the sky. And [remember Your promise] to give all of this land to them, and that it will be theirs through the age.’

¹⁴ And that’s how Jehovah was moved to [keep them] as His people.

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down the Mountain, carrying the two Tablets of Proof in his hands. They were tablets of stone that were written on both sides ¹⁶ and were the work and writing of God.

¹⁷ And when JoShua heard the voices of people shouting, he said to Moses, ‘That’s the sound of a war in the camp!’

¹⁸ But [Moses] replied, ‘It isn’t the sound of people going to battle or the sound of defeat. What I hear is the sound of a lot of [partying].’

¹⁹ And when he got close to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses became so angry that he threw the two tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the base of the Mountain. ²⁰ Then he took the calf they made, had it melted and ground into dust, and then he put it in the water and made the children of Israel drink it. ²¹ And he asked Aaron, ‘What have these people done to you? Why have you made them [guilty of] such a great sin?’

²² And Aaron replied, ‘Don’t be angry, lord. For you know how troublesome these people are. ²³ Why, they told me: [We want you to] make gods for us to lead us. Because, we don’t know what has become of this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt. ²⁴ So I said: If anyone has gold ornaments, take them off. Then they gave them to me and I threw them into the fire, and out came this calf!’

²⁵ Well, Moses realized that the people were divided, and Aaron was responsible. [And he knew that] this would make their enemies very happy. ²⁶ So Moses went to the entrance of the camp and shouted, ‘Who is on Jehovah’s side? [May those who are], come here to me!’

Well, all the sons of Levi came to him, ²⁷ and he told them, ‘This is what Jehovah the God of Israel said: Everyone must [tie on] his sword and go through the camp from gate to gate, and each of you should kill [his rebellious] brothers and neighbors, starting with those that are the closest to you.’

²⁸ So, the sons of Levi did just as Moses told them, and three thousand men fell that day. ²⁹ Then Moses told them, ‘You are to be praised, because you’ve all lifted your hands to Jehovah [and struck down] your own sons and brothers1’

³⁰ Then the next morning, Moses spoke to the people and said, ‘You have committed a great sin! So now I must go up to God and pay for your sins!’

³¹ Then Moses returned to Jehovah and said, ‘I’ve [come to] beg You, O Jehovah, because these people are guilty of a great sin by making a god of gold. ³² So now, [please] forgive their sins. But if You choose not to, then also erase my name from the scroll that You’ve written.’

³³ But Jehovah told Moses, ‘I’m going to erase [the names] of all those who have sinned against Me from My scroll. ³⁴ Now go! [Go] and lead these people to the place that I told you about when I said, {Look!} My messenger will travel before you. However, I’m going to visit them and [punish] them for their sins.’

³⁵ Then Jehovah struck the people for having Aaron make the calf.

Chapter 33

¹ Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘Go on! You and the people that you brought out of the land of Egypt should leave and go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when I said, I will give it to your seed. ² I will send My messenger before you, and he will throw out the Amorites, Chettites, Pherezites, Gergesites, Evites, Jebusites, and CanaAnites. ³ And I will bring you into a land that flows with milk and honey. However, I won’t be going with you, for fear that I will destroy you along the way, because you’re such a stubborn people!’

⁴ Well, when the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning and wore mourning clothes. ⁵ But Jehovah told the children of Israel, ‘You’re stubborn people! Now, pay attention so I don’t send another plague and destroy you. Take off your [mourning] clothes and its trappings, and let Me show you what I will do to you.’

⁶ So the Sons of Israel took off all their [mourning] gear there at the dry mountain (Horeb). ⁷ Then Moses carried the Tent outside the camp (they called it the Tent of Proofs) and [had it] assembled some distance away. And everyone who [wanted an answer from Jehovah] would go to the Tent outside the camp. ⁸ Then, whenever Moses would enter or leave the Tent, everyone would stand and watch at its entrance, to see what would happen. ⁹ For when Moses entered the Tent, a column of clouds descended and stayed at the Tent’s entrance while [God] was talking to Moses. ¹⁰ And as they all saw the column of clouds standing there by the entrance to the Tent, everyone stood there praying. ¹¹ Meanwhile, Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, as though they were two friends. Then [Moses] would return to the camp, but his servant JoShua (the son of NaWeh), who was a young man, didn’t leave the Tent.

¹² Thereafter, Moses said to Jehovah: ‘{Look!} You told me to lead these people on, but You haven’t shown me where You want me to go! Now, You’ve told me that You know me better than all the rest, and that You like me. ¹³ So, if I’ve found favor in Your eyes, show Yourself to me so I can see You. Then I will know that I’ve found favor in Your eyes, and I can be sure that this great nation is Your people.’

¹⁴ And [God] replied, ‘I will pass before you to satisfy you.’

¹⁵ Then [Moses] said, ‘But if You aren’t going to [travel] with us, don’t make me go either! ¹⁶ For, how would anyone know for sure that these people and I have found favor with You, unless You go with us? Then both Your people and I will be glorified above all the nations of the earth.’

¹⁷ And Jehovah told Moses, ‘I will do this thing that you’ve asked, because you’ve found My favor and I’ve put you above all the others.’

¹⁸ Then [Moses] said, ‘Then show Yourself to me!’

¹⁹ And [God] said, ‘I will pass before you with My glory, and I will call out My Name Jehovah in front of you. I will be merciful to those for whom I feel mercy, and I will have pity on those for whom I feel pity.’

²⁰ Then [God] told [Moses], ‘You won’t be able to see My face, because no man can see My face and live.’ ²¹ And Jehovah said, ‘{Look!} Stand on the rock by Me, ²² and as My glory is passing by, I will put you into a hole in that rock and cover you with My hand as I pass. ²³ Then I will remove My hand so you can see My back… but you won’t see My face.’

Chapter 34

¹ And Jehovah said to Moses: ‘You need to cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and climb the mountain to Me, then I will write the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² So, be ready to climb Mount Sinai in the morning, and then stand there [and wait] for Me on top of the Mountain. ³ Don’t let anyone go up with you, or even to be seen on the Mountain. And don’t allow any sheep or bulls to graze near the Mountain.’

⁴ So [Moses] cut two stone tablets just like the first, and he got up early and climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord told him, carrying the two stone tablets. ⁵ Then the Lord descended in a cloud and stood close to him as He called the Name Jehovah. ⁶ And the Lord passed before his face while He was saying, ‘Jehovah, the God of mercy, pity, patience, concern, and truth; ⁷ who brings justice and mercy to thousands, and removes wrong-doing, unrighteousness, and sins, but won’t acquit the guilty; who [punishes] the sins of ancestors on their children, and on their children’s children to the third and fourth generations.’

⁸ Then Moses quickly bowed to the earth and prayed, ⁹ ‘If You care for me, may my Lord go with us, because these people are stubborn. Then You will remove our sins and our failings, and we will be Yours.’

¹⁰ Thereafter, Jehovah said to Moses: ‘{Look!} I am establishing a Sacred Agreement with you in the presence of all your people. I will do wonderful things that have never been done before anywhere on earth or in any nation. Everyone among you will see the deeds that I will do for you; because they are wonderful.¹¹ But make sure that you do everything that I’ve told you. Then {Look!} I will throw the Amorites, CanaAnites, Pherezites, Chettites, Evites, Gergesites, and Jebusites out from before you.

¹² ‘Be careful not to make any agreements with people who live in the land that you are entering, for fear that they will become stones to stumble you. ¹³ You must destroy their altars and smash their [sacred] columns, cut off their water, and burn the images of their gods. ¹⁴ You must not worship other gods, because Jehovah (which is a zealous Name) is a zealous God.

¹⁵ ‘Never make pacts with people who live in this land and then commit adultery their gods, or sacrifice to their gods, or have them call you to eat at their feasts. ¹⁶ You shouldn’t take their daughters [as wives] for your sons, nor should you give your daughters to their sons, so your sons and daughters don’t become adulterers with their gods.

¹⁷ ‘You aren’t to mold [images of] gods for yourselves.

¹⁸ ‘You must keep the Feast of Fermentation-Free Bread and eat fermentation-free bread for seven days, just as I‘ve told you, in the month and season of new grain, because that’s when you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹ ‘All the males are Mine… everything that opens the womb, including every first-born ox and sheep. ²⁰ And you must pay a ransom for the first-born of a burro with a sheep or with money. You must also pay a ransom for your first-born sons… don’t come to Me empty-handed!

²¹ ‘You can work for six days, but you must rest on the seventh day, whether during seed-time or harvest.

²² ‘And you must observe the Feast of Weeks for Me at the beginning of the wheat harvest and at the harvest in the middle of the year. ²³ Every male must appear before Jehovah the God of Israel three times each year. ²⁴ For, after I’ve driven the nations away from before you and enlarged your borders, no one will want your land, as long as you go up to appear before Jehovah your God three times each year.

²⁵ ‘You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with fermentation, nor should the Passover sacrifices remain until the next morning.

²⁶ ‘The first fruits of your land must be taken to the House of your God Jehovah.

‘You must not boil a lamb in its mother’s milk.’

²⁷ Then Jehovah told Moses: ‘Write all of these words down, because they are the words of My Sacred Agreement with you and with Israel.’

²⁸ Well, Moses was there with Jehovah for forty days and forty nights, and during that time, he didn’t eat any bread or drink any water. Then he wrote the words of the Sacred Agreement (the Ten Commandments) on the tablets.

²⁹ So, when Moses came down the Mountain, he had the two tablets in his hands. But as he was coming down, he didn’t realize that his face was radiating, due to his conversation with God. ³⁰ And when Aaron and all the elders of Israel saw Moses’ face radiating, they were afraid to come any closer. ³¹ Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the heads of the gathering turned toward him, and he started speaking to them.

³² And later, all the children of Israel came to him, and he told them all the Commandments that Jehovah had given him on Mount Sinai (Horeb). ³³ And when he finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ Then, whenever Moses went in to speak to Jehovah, he would take off the veil until he [came back outside] to tell the children of Israel what Jehovah told him. ³⁵ [Of course], it was because the children of Israel could see Moses’ face radiating that he wore the veil over it when he went in to speak to Jehovah.

Chapter 35

¹ Then Moses assembled the entire gathering of the children of Israel and said: ‘These are the commandments that Jehovah has told you to obey: ² You can work for six days, but the seventh day is for resting. It is a holy Sabbath and a rest for Jehovah. Anyone who does work on [that day] must die. ³ You must not light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day, for I am Jehovah.’

⁴ Then Moses told the gathering of the children of Israel, ‘This is what Jehovah has instructed you to do: ⁵ Take up [a collection] as an offering to Jehovah. Everyone whose heart moves him to do so, must bring these as first-fruits to Jehovah: gold, silver, brass, ⁶ blue [thread], purple [yarn], double-spun scarlet [cloth], fine-spun linen, goats’ hair, ⁷ rams’ skins that have been dyed red or blue, durable wood, ⁸ and rubies and gemstones that can be engraved for the [Priest’s] shoulder-piece and full-length robes.

⁹ ‘Then, any man among you who is wise at heart may come and create the things that Jehovah has commanded, such as: ¹⁰ the Tent, the cords, the coverings, the rings, the rafters, the posts, ¹¹ the Chest of Proofs and its staves, the Propitiatory, the veil, ¹² the curtains for the courtyard and their posts, ¹³ the [gemstone engraving], ¹⁴ the incense, the anointing oil, ¹⁵ the table and all its furnishings, ¹⁶ the lampstand (for lighting) and all its furnishings, ¹⁷ the Altar and all its furnishings, ¹⁸ and the holy garments of Priesthood for Aaron and the clothing that he must use in his services, ¹⁹ as well as the Priestly garments for Aaron’s sons.

²⁰ And after the gathering of the children of Israel [had finished listening to] Moses, all who felt moved to do so brought whatever they thought would be appropriate as an offering. ²¹ And they donated as offerings to Jehovah everything that was needed for the Tent of Proofs and all its services, as well as all the clothing for the Holy Place. ²² Then any man who felt moved to do so, brought items from their wives, such as [gold] clasps, earrings, finger rings, necklaces, bracelets, and all sorts of gold items. ²³ So, many of them brought their gold jewelry to Jehovah, as well as fine linen and ram’s skins that were dyed blue or red.

²⁴ And everyone who brought offerings also brought items of silver and brass to Jehovah. Also, anyone who had durable wood or the tools to work it, brought that. ²⁵ And all the women who were skilled at spinning brought blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], and fine linen. ²⁶ Also, all the women who were moved to do so and were wise, spun the goats’ hair.

²⁷ Then the [tribal] rulers brought emeralds and gemstones for the settings in the shoulder pieces and the Expression [of Judgment]. ²⁸ They also brought the materials for the anointing oil and things to make the incense.

²⁹ So, every man and woman that was moved to do so, came to do all the work that Jehovah assigned to them through Moses, which the children of Israel donated as offerings to Jehovah. ³⁰ And Moses told them, ‘{Look!} God has specifically called BeSeleEl (of Urias and Or) of the tribe of Judah, ³¹ and filled him with a godly spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, to be creative in all fields of expertise. ³² He is skilled in all sorts of crafts, such as working gold, silver, and brass, ³³ setting gemstones, and woodcarving… he does everything [well]. ³⁴ Both he and EliAb (of AchiSamach of the tribe of Dan) have been granted such understanding. ³⁵ They have been filled with wisdom, understanding, and the needed comprehension to know how to do all the work that must be done for the Tent, as well as how to weave and embroider using scarlet [cloth] and fine linen, and how to fashion all the unique embroidered items.’

Chapter 36

¹ So, BeSeleEl, EliAb, and all those who were wise and knowledgeable, were given the wisdom, knowledge, and necessary [skills] to do everything that had to be done for the holy offices, in the way that Jehovah had instructed. ² Then Moses called BeSeleEl, EliAb, and all the wise who had received the needed skills from God, as well as everyone who was willing to come and donate their work, to get the job done. ³ And Moses gave them everything that the children of Israel brought to build the Holy Place. So they continued to receive the gifts each morning, ⁴ and wise people with many different skills kept showing up to work at the Holy Place.

⁵ Then one of them said to Moses, ‘The people are bringing in too many of the things that Jehovah told them to bring!’ ⁶ So, Moses sent a proclamation throughout the camp, saying, ‘No more men or women should come to work or to bring offerings to the Holy Place.’ So, they had to prevent the people from bringing any more. ⁷ Why, they had enough material to make all the furnishings, with more left over.

⁸ Skilled craftsmen made the robes for the Holy Place that would belong to Aaron the Priest, just as the Lord had instructed Moses. ⁹ They made the vests of gold, blue [thread], purple [yarn], spun scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen. ¹⁰ Then each of the sections was connected with gold thread that was interwoven with blue [thread], purple [yarn], spun scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen, so they were all woven together.

¹¹ Then, both sides of the shoulder pieces were connected by weaving each of the parts together. ¹² They were made of the same material as the rest (gold, blue [thread], purple [yarn], spun scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen), just as the Lord had told Moses.

¹³ Then they mounted two emeralds that had the names of the children of Israel engraved on them into carved gold clasps, ¹⁴ and connected them to the shoulder pieces of the vest. This was done in memory of the children of Israel, as Jehovah had instructed Moses.

¹⁵ Then they embroidered the Expression of Judgment the same way as they did the vest (of gold, blue [thread], purple [yarn], spun scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen). ¹⁶ They made the Expression of Judgment square and doubled, seven inches long and seven inches wide, doubled [over]. ¹⁷ And woven into it were four columns of gemstones in rows. In the first column there was a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald. ¹⁸ In the second column there was a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a jasper. ¹⁹ In the third column there was a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. ²⁰ And in the fourth column there was a peridot, a beryl, and an onyx. They were all mounted in gold settings and fastened with gold. ²¹ And each of the twelve stones was engraved like a seal with the names of the children of Israel, in the order of each of the twelve tribes.

²² Thereafter, they mounted twisted wreaths of pure gold on the Expression of Judgment. ²³ Then they made two small circles of gold and two gold rings. ²⁴ They put the two gold rings on the [top] corners of the Expression, ²⁵ and then they mounted the gold wreaths over the rings. There were also gold fasteners for each ring, and a wreath was mounted to each fastener. ²⁶ They were mounted on the two small circles at the front of each side of the vest, near the shoulders.

²⁷ Then they made two gold rings and mounted them on the two projections along the top of the Expression, on the backside facing the vest. ²⁸ And they made two more gold rings and mounted them on both shoulders of the vest, in front of and above the vest’s connectors. ²⁹ And the Expression was then fastened to the vest by its rings and the rings on the vest, and it was sewed to the woven material on the vest with blue [thread], so the Expression couldn’t come loose, just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

³⁰ Then they made the tunic of spun blue [thread], which was to be worn under the vest. ³¹ It was tightly woven, so it wouldn’t tear, and it opened in the front, with fringes around the opening. ³² At the bottom of the tunic [they put a decorative fringe] of pomegranate flowers that were made from blue [thread], purple [yarn], spun scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen. ³³ It also had gold bells. They put the bells all the way around the tunic, between the pomegranates ³⁴ (a gold bell then a pomegranate), all along the border, to be part of the service, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁵ Then they made the [rest of the] outfits of fine woven linen for Aaron and his sons. ³⁶ The head coverings and the turbans were made of fine linen, the shorts were made of fine-twisted linen, ³⁷ and their sashes were made of fine linen with blue [thread], purple [yarn], and spun-scarlet [cloth] embroidered into them, just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

³⁸ Then they made the gold plate (for forgiveness in the Holy Place) of pure gold. ³⁹ It was engraved in raised lettering, with the words ‘Jehovah is Holy.’ ⁴⁰ They mounted it on top of the turban with a blue background, just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

Chapter 37

¹ Then they made ten curtains for the Tent. ² [The curtains] ran forty-seven feet [per side] and were six and three-quarters feet high. ³ They also made the veil of blue [thread], purple [yarn], scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen with cherubs woven into it. ⁴ Then they assembled four posts of durable wood that were overlaid with gold and had gold caps and a silver socket for each one. ⁵ Then they made the veil for the entry to the Tent of Proofs of blue [thread], purple [yarn], spun-scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen, with cherubs woven into it, ⁶ as well as its five posts, the rings, the gilded caps, the gold clasps, and the five brass sockets.

⁷ Then they made the courtyard. The curtains on the south side were made of fine-twisted linen, and it was a hundred and sixty-seven feet long, ⁸ with twenty posts and twenty sockets. ⁹ The north side also ran a hundred and sixty-seven feet, the same as the south side, and it had twenty posts and twenty sockets. ¹⁰ The curtains on the west side ran eighty-four feet, and they had ten sockets and posts. ¹¹ And on the east side, the curtains ran eighty-four feet, with [awnings] that were twenty-five feet long on one side, ¹² with three posts and three sockets, ¹³ and twenty-five feet long, with three posts and three sockets, on the other side of the courtyard entrance. ¹⁴ All the curtains were made of fine-twisted linen. ¹⁵ The sockets for the posts were made of brass, all the posts were overlaid with silver, their hooks were made of silver, and their caps were overlaid with silver.

¹⁶ The veil at the entrance to the courtyard was embroidered with blue [thread], purple [yarn], spun-scarlet [cloth], and fine-twisted linen. It was thirty-three feet long and stood eight feet high, like the other curtains in the courtyard. ¹⁷ It had four posts with silver overlaid caps, four brass sockets, and silver hooks. ¹⁸ All the courtyard pins were made of brass overlaid with silver.

¹⁹ Thus, the Tent of Proofs was assembled exactly as Moses was told, so that public services could be conducted by the Levites, through Aaron’s (the High Priest’s) son IthaMar.

²⁰ And BeSeleEl (the son of Urias of the tribe of Judah) did just as the Lord commanded Moses, with EliAb (the son of AchiSamach of the tribe of Dan) who was in charge of the weaving, needlework, and embroidering with the scarlet material and fine linen.

Chapter 38

¹ Then BeSeleEl made the Chest. ² He overlaid it with pure gold both inside and out, ³ and he made four gold rings, mounting two on one side and two on the other ⁴ for the staves (so the Chest could be carried with them). ⁵ Then he made the Propitiatory of pure gold, to cover the Chest, ⁶ and the two gold cherubs – ⁷ one cherub on each end of the Propitiatory – ⁸ which covered the Propitiatory with their wings. ⁹ Then he made the table of pure gold, ¹⁰ which had four rings, two of which were mounted on either side, so it could be lifted and carried on staves. ¹¹ He also made the staves for the Chest and the table, and covered them with gold. ¹² Then he made the furnishings for the table – the dishes, censers, cups, and bowls (for drink-offerings) – of gold.

¹³ Then he made the lampstand of solid gold. ¹⁴ It had three branches on each side ¹⁵ and blossoms coming from its branches – three on each side – which were the same. ¹⁶ The sockets where the lamps were mounted were at the ends [of each branch] above the knobs. Then there was the seventh socket that rose straight from the middle of the lampstand, and the whole thing was made of solid gold. ¹⁷ [He also made] seven gold lamps, plus gold snuffers and gold funnels.

¹⁸ He overlaid the [Tent’s] posts and made gold rings for them. [Then he] gilded the rafters and the posts for the veil with gold, and he made the hooks ¹⁹ and the Tent rings of gold. [He also made] the rings for the courtyard and for drawing the veil, out of brass.

²⁰ He poured silver caps for the Tent posts, and [he made] brass caps for the entryways to the Tent and the courtyard. Then he made silver hooks for the posts, and he overlaid [the posts] with silver. ²¹ He made pins for the Tent and the courtyard of brass.

²² He made the brass Altar from the brass censers that had once belonged to the group of men who joined in the rebellion under KorAh. ²³ He made the Altar, its grate, its base, its bowls, and the brass flesh-hooks. ²⁴ He made an appendage for the Altar under the middle of the grate, to which he fastened four brass rings at each corner, so the Altar could be carried with them.

²⁵ He also made the holy anointing oil and mixed the incense like a [professional] perfumer. ²⁶ He made the brass basin and base from the mirrors of the women who were fasting at the entrance to the Tent of Proofs on the day it was assembled. ²⁷ He made the basin so that Moses, and Aaron and his sons, could wash their hands and feet whenever they entered the Tent of Proofs, or whenever they went to serve at the Altar, as Jehovah had instructed Moses.

Chapter 39

¹ All the gold that was offered and used to make the holy things weighed more than twenty-six hundred pounds. ² And the silver that was collected from the men among the gathering who were counted [in the census] weighed more than nine thousand five hundred pounds, plus a thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five silver coins. ³ Six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men who were twenty years and older replied to the census. ⁴ And their thousand, five-hundred pounds of silver was used to cast one hundred [post] caps for the Tent and for the veil, ⁵ and a hundred caps at ninety-five pounds each. ⁶ Then he took the thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five silver coins and made hooks, caps, and silver coverings for the posts.

⁷ More than three tons of brass was offered, from which ⁸ they made the bases for the entry to the Tent of Proofs ⁹ and the surrounding courtyard, as well as pins for the Tent and the courtyard, ¹⁰ the brass appendage on the Altar and all its furnishings, and all the instruments that were used in the Tent of Proofs.

¹¹ So, the children of Israel did everything as Jehovah had instructed Moses. ¹² And the rest of the contributed gold was used to make furnishings that would be used in service to Jehovah. ¹³ The blue [thread], the purple [yarn], and the scarlet [material] that was left over, was used to make [more] garments for Aaron to wear in his service at the Holy Place. ¹⁴ They also brought garments to Moses for use in the Tent, as well as [things] for its furnishings, bases, rafters, and posts, ¹⁵ and for the Chest of the Sacred Agreement and its carriers, and for the Altar and its furnishings.

¹⁶ They made the anointing oil, the incense, the holy lampstand ¹⁷ and its lamps (that held oil for the light), ¹⁸ the table for showbread and all its furnishings, ¹⁹ Aaron’s garments for use in the Holy Place, the garments for his sons in their Priestly duties, ²⁰ the curtains for the courtyard, all the posts, the veils for the entry to the Tent and the courtyard, ²¹ all the furnishings and tools for the Tent, the ram skins that were dyed red and blue, coverings for other things, the pins, and everything that was needed to work in the Tent of Proofs. ²² Whatever Jehovah told Moses, the children of Israel did to complete the furnishings. ²³ And when Moses looked at all the work and saw that they had done everything and made everything the way that Jehovah had told him, he blest them.

Chapter 40

¹ Then Jehovah told Moses: ² ‘On the first day of the first month (the New Moon), you must assemble the Tent of Proofs ³ and put the Chest of Proofs inside it, behind the veil. ⁴ Then carry in the table and lay [the bread] on it. Then bring in the lampstand and mount the lamps on it. ⁵ Then carry in the gold incense Altar and burn incense in front of the Chest. Then hang the veil in the entryway of the Tent of Proofs. ⁶ Then put the Altar of burnt offerings next to the entry to the Tent of Proofs, and set up the rest of the Tent. Make everything in and around it holy. ⁷ – – – ⁸ – – – ⁹ Take the anointing oil and anoint the Tent and everything in it, to cleanse it, so that it and all its furnishings will be holy. ¹⁰ Also, anoint the Altar of burnt offerings and all of its furnishings. Make it clean and the Altar will be most holy. ¹¹ – – –

¹² ‘Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Proofs and wash them with water. ¹³ Then dress Aaron in the holy garments and anoint him and make him holy, so he can serve as a Priest to Me. ¹⁴ Then bring in his sons, dress them in their garb, ¹⁵ and anoint them as you did their father, so they can serve Me as Priests. ¹⁶ This anointing of the Priesthood [must be done] through the ages.’ And Moses did everything that Jehovah told him.

¹⁷ So it was, that during the first month, a year after they left Egypt (during the New Moon), that the Tent was set up. ¹⁸ Moses set up the Tent, put on the caps, set the rafters in place, and set up the posts. ¹⁹ Then he stretched the curtains over the Tent and installed the veil from the top of the Tent, as Jehovah had commanded. ²⁰ Then he took the Proofs and put them inside the Chest; he mounted the Chest on the staves ²¹ and carried it into the Tent; then he put up the veil to conceal the Chest of Proofs, just as the Lord had commanded.

²² Then he carried the table into the Tent of Proofs and placed in on the north side, just outside the veil. ²³ And he brought in the showbread [and set it] before Jehovah, just as the Lord had instructed him. ²⁴ Next, he brought the lampstand into the Tent of Proofs and placed it on the south side of the Tent, ²⁵ and he mounted its lamps in front of Jehovah, just as the Lord had commanded. ²⁶ Then he brought the gold incense Altar into the Tent of Proofs and put it in front of the veil, ²⁷ and he burned the [sacred] incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded. ²⁸ – – – ²⁹ Then he put the Altar for the burnt offerings next to the entry to the Tent. ³⁰ – – – ³¹ – – – ³² – – – ³³ And he set up the courtyard all around the Tent and the Altar. Yes, Moses did all these things.

³⁴ Then a cloud covered the Tent of Proofs and it was filled with the glory of Jehovah. ³⁵ Not even Moses could enter the Tent of Proofs, because of the cloud that covered it and the glory of Jehovah that was inside the Tent.

³⁶ And whenever the cloud would rise above the Tent, the children of Israel would pack their bags and [get ready to leave]. ³⁷ But if the cloud stayed in place, they didn’t get ready to leave until the day that the cloud arose again. ³⁸ For the cloud covered the Tent during the day, and fire covered it at night, and all Israel could [see this] as they traveled.

Notes

Breath

The Greek word pneuma (as in pneumonia, a breathing disease) means breath or wind – the movement of air. In other Bible translations, this word is often translated as spirit or ghost, as in Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. However, spirit is just a shortened form of the Latin word spiritu, which just means breath in Latin. And ghost conveys another meaning altogether.

The most common use of the word pneuma in the Bible is to imply an unseen force (such as breath or wind). And the problem with translating it as spirit or ghost is that many people have started believing that the unseen force that is called [God’s] Holy Breath herein, is another God-like person and part of a Divine ‘Trinity.’ This can’t be true, because the only scripture that can be used to support this theory (that is, where the Father, the Son, and the Holy Breath’ are spoken of together) is found at Matthew 28:19, which appears to be spurious (See the Note in Matthew). All other scriptures that are used to prove the Trinity theory fail to mention the Holy Breath as part of that group. And the King James wording of 1 John 5:7 (which was used for years to attempt to prove the Trinity) is also spurious (something that was added to the Bible). So, there are no actual Bible references that mention God’s Holy Breath along with the Father and the Son.

Therefore, to prevent confusion, the Greek word pneuma is frequently translated as breath herein. However, there are exceptions, as in instances where the Bible refers to demons as ‘spirits.’ Translating pneuma as breath in these cases, although correct, might just be confusing. There are also places where we have left pneuma translated as spirit, when the word implies a person's tendency (or spirit). And, since the nuance implied by the word spirit in the English language (an unseen power) is correct, we recently changed back to translating pneuma as spirit in several places, when referring to God’s Holy Spirit. However, recognize that pneuma is often best defined by calling it [God’s] Holy Breath. For an example, see the Note Worshiping God In Spirit and Truth.

Another important use of the word pneuma is in the phrase, ‘Breath of Life.’ This phrase appears to mean more than just breathing, for it seems to refer to the entire mechanics of life itself. It’s the unseen force of life for all creatures… it’s what makes each cell alive. However, nowhere does the Bible describe the ‘pneuma’ as immortal, nor is it the same as the soul (a breathing thing), so it can (figuratively) ‘return to God’ at death,’ because all hope of future life depends on God and His promise of a resurrection.

Note in particular how the term Breath is used at Job 27:3, where Job spoke of God’s Breath or Spirit. For there he asked, ‘Does the Breath of the Divine One remain in my nose?’ As you can see from his application of this word, pneuma obviously referred to God’s Breath, not to a person or to an unseen force. He was talking about that which comes from God and which caused him (Job) to breathe… the Breath of Life.

It is interesting that at Genesis 6:3 God says, ‘I won’t allow My Breath to stay with these men through the age, for they are fleshly.’ In Greek that reads, ‘Ou me katameine to pneuma mou en tois anthropois toutoiseis ton aiona, dia ai einai autous sarka,’ or, ‘Not not should stay the Breath Mine with these men the age through, their being flesh.’

While the words Breath Mine (pneuma mou) here can refer to God’s Holy Breath, it seems more likely that He is referring to the breath of life that He gave to Adam. So it appears as though; what God was saying here is that the breath of life (of the people of that age) would be removed prematurely. However, since God referred to it as ‘My Breath,’ there may be a link implied between God’s Holy Breath and the breath of life.
For more information, see the linked document, ‘The Powers of God’s Holy Spirit.’

However, when Jesus died (as the words recorded at John 19:30 say), ‘he hung his head and gave up the breath’ (gr. kai klinas ten kephalen paredoken to pneuma, or, and inclined his head giving/up the breath). In this case, the obvious reference is to ‘the breath of life,’ or that force which gave him life as a human.

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Soul or?

The Greek word psyche (as in psychology) has been translated many ways, including soul, life, etc. However, psyche actually means something that breathes. It is used in the Bible to describe both breathing animals and breathing humans. So by definition, a soul cannot leave the body, because a soul is what the living body (whether human or animal) is (see Genesis 2:7).

In ancient Greece, philosophers eventually added another meaning to psyche: The inner person (as opposed to the person that others see and come to know). And with time, the pagan religion of Greece started to teach that this inner person is its own entity and can never die (is immortal). Over the centuries, this pagan Greek doctrine thereafter crept into the Christian religions. Please see the link Soul for more history of the word.

However, such Greek philosophical thought never influenced Jesus and his Apostles. So, they consistently used psyche to indicate a living person or animal. Therefore, the later teaching that the soul is immortal stands in direct conflict with Jesus’ promise of a resurrection, because, if a person is immortal (can never die) he/she can never be resurrected (brought back to life).

In addition, the teaching of the immortality of the human soul is totally without support from the Bible. For the word immortal(ity) (Gr: athanasia or undying) is only mentioned in the Bible in two places, and it isn’t used with or applied to the word soul in either case. Both of these scriptures show that immortality is only given by God as a reward for righteousness. And as Ezekiel 18:4 says, ‘The person (gr. psyche or ‘soul’) that is sinning will die (gr. apothaneitai).’

Of course, there are places in the Bible where the word soul means more than just a living, fleshly body. For example, God is recorded to have spoken of ‘My Soul’ in several places. Obviously, God is much more than just a ‘soul’ as most people think of that term, and He surely wasn’t talking about His having a human body. So we must conclude that what He was referring to is His life.

Then there are Jesus’ words found at Matthew 10:28, which read, ‘Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the person (psyche or soul). Rather, be afraid of him who can destroy both the person (soul) and the body in the garbage dump.’ Here, Jesus is using the word psyche (soul) to refer to the value of life that remains with God until the resurrection. And he obviously isn’t referring the soul as immortal in this instance, because he says God will destroy (gr. apolesai) the [unrighteous] soul or person.

Unfortunately, no single word can be used to translate psyche in every possible Bible application, so various terms are used herein, depending on the circumstances, but always in an attempt to harmonize with the meaning.

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Age, Eternal, Perpetual, Everlasting, Immortal, or Forever?

Two words imply infinite states in the Bible; one is the Greek word athanasia (undying), which is only found in two places, 1 Corinthians 15:53, where it mentions resurrected ones as clothing themselves with immortality, and at 1 Timothy 6:16, where Paul speaks of Jesus as having received it. The other Greek word is aidios, which is used at Romans 1:20 to describe God’s Power and Might as eternal, and at Jude 6 when speaking of the perpetual state of gloomy darkness that rebellious angels have been confined to.

However, the Greek word aionos (pronounced ai-on-oss), which is used throughout the Bible and is often translated as forever and everlasting, is what the English word eon is derived from. It means an indefinite period, and there is no exact English word to translate it. The best equivalents are age(s) or era(s).

Where the plural form of the word (aionion) is used, it refers to a long time… at least multiple generations. However, where the singular form is used (aionos), this appears to mean a much shorter period, such as a lifetime, generation, or era. And where the term ages of the ages is used (such as at Ephesians 3:21), which is usually said in reference to The God, we would assume that this truly means forever.

It is noteworthy that aionos is the word that is used in the Greek Septuagint in place of the Hebrew word ohlam, which is also translated as forever and time indefinite in popular versions of the Ancient Scriptures of Israel. So, this one word (aionos) is translated as forever, everlasting, eternal, system of things, time indefinite, [end of] the world, long ago, from of old, etc. Obviously, something is very wrong here, because the word can’t mean a period having a definite end in one place and infinity in another.

Take for example, the unique way that aionos is used in the question that Jesus’ Apostles asked him, which is found at Matthew 24:3: ‘Tell us; When will these things happen… what will be the signs when you are to arrive and this age will come to its conclusion?’ You can see that the word aionos obviously doesn’t mean forever, everlasting, or eternal in this case, nor did it mean world or system of things. It simply meant the age or, the time before the end would come. And for them, that meant the age when God’s Temple at Jerusalem would be destroyed, because that’s what Jesus had just told them.

The word aionos (which we have translated as age here) is also translated as world (KJ) and as system of things (NW) in other Bibles. However, if the Apostles had meant any of those words, they would have used the Greek word cosmos (world or system of things), not aionos.

The ancient Hebrews viewed everything (and rightly so) as having a beginning and an end. For that reason, you will only find three places in the Bible where words are used that imply no end, and none that imply no beginning. An interesting possible insight on the reason for this can be found at Hebrews 1:10-12, which says: ‘Long ago, O Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and your hands made the heavens. They will destroy themselves, but you will remain. They will grow old just like clothes do. Then, as [you would do to] a robe, you will wrap them up and repair them like clothes. Yes, you are the one, and your years will never expire.’

So, notice; The Bible shows that even our universe will eventually end and need to be ‘wrapped up and repaired,’ which agrees with the conclusions of modern science.

The problem with most Bible translations is that; when they encounter the word aionos in all its different tenses, they interpret it according to accepted doctrine, not according to the way that Jesus and his disciples used it. So, the common renderings forever, eternal, and everlasting are used even when the word is in its singular forms (aioni, aiona, aionos, aionion, aionian, aionios, aioniou), and this totally distorts the meaning of the text.

Take for example, the scripture at John 5:24, where Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth; He who hears what I say and believes in the One that sent me, will have life in this age… he won’t have to be judged, for he has crossed over from death to life!’

Most Bibles translate Jesus as saying that those who believe in the One who sent him will have everlasting life (or the equivalent). However, the words that Jesus used there were, zoe aionos (life age – singular), not zoe aionion (life ages – plural).

Notice how Jesus explained the meaning of these words with his next statement, ‘He won’t have to be judged, for has crossed over from death to life.’

So, what Jesus was saying here, wasn’t that they would have everlasting life, but that they in their current lifetime would be considered among the living, not among the dead (see Revelation 20:12).

This doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t live forever… it’s just that Jesus wasn’t really saying that. What we find (from consideration of the evidence found in the bulk of Jesus’ words about life) is that he never taught the hope of ‘life eternal,’ ‘everlasting life,’ or ‘immortality,’ in those specific words. However, the concept is still there. What he taught was that righteous people will receive ‘life in the age,’ or be considered worthy of (possibly everlasting) life by God during their current lifetimes… that their names would be written in ‘the scroll of life,’ and that they would not have to be judged, but will have already ‘crossed over from death to life,’ as Jesus said at John 5:24.

Yes, we know that this is a difficult concept to understand, but it’s what Jesus actually said.

For more information, select the linked documents, The Hereafter and Does the Bible Promise Everlasting Life?

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Bless or Praise?

This is a tough one, and we won’t say that our position on the translation of this word can’t be changed. The Greek word that we are struggling with is eulogetos. The first part of the word eu, is Greek for good. The last part of the word, logetos, means words (or expressions). So, a literal translation of eulogetos is good words. And our question is: Is this all that a blessing amounts to?

Yes, we know that this word has been translated as bless, blest, and blessing in other Bibles. So why rock the boat? Because these translators have simply found too many errors in many commonly-accepted renderings. And here, for example, if eulogetos is properly translated as blessing each time (which carries the English nuance, ‘causing good things to happen’), then, how can humans ‘bless God?’ We do know that we can praise God, however.

Eulogetos is the word that we derive the English word eulogy from… that is, the kind words that are said of the deceased at a funeral. Such words are never said as a blessing (it’s a bit late for that); they are said in praise of the deceased individual. However, there are definitely places where eulogetos can’t be translated as praise or praising.

So, perhaps the real meaning is (or is at least is similar to) praise. And when praises come from God, this means blessings to humans.

This isn’t the same word that we have rendered as blest in other portions of this translation (for an example, see Matthew 5:5). The word in question there is makarios, which is rendered as happy in certain other Bibles. However, we believe that blest is the proper way to translate that Greek word.

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Animal Sacrifices

Many religious teachers have tried to draw a line between Jehovah, who they refer to as the vengeful, warring ‘God of the Old Testament,’ and the ‘God of the New Testament,’ as represented by the loving, kind actions and words of Jesus. However, if you pay close attention to the details, you’ll find the same kind, loving God in both portions of the Bible. And part of this can be seen in His requirement for animal sacrifices.

Now, for confirmed vegetarians, the thought of offering the lives of animals to God may sound repulsive. However, these sacrifices pictured something much more important; the need to bring an end to all human (and perhaps most animal) suffering and death.

Notice that the first animal sacrifice mentioned in the Bible is the one offered by Adam’s second son Abel. And although he and his brother Cain both offered sacrifices, Abel’s was the one that God found to be satisfactory. Was this because God liked Abel better than He liked Cain? That doesn’t appear to be the case. Apparently, Abel’s sacrifice was more pleasing to God because he offered a living thing, which better represented the sacrifice that God Himself would make when He offered His son’s life for mankind.

Of interest though, are God’s kind instructions about how such sacrifices were to be offered. For example, to show that they were being offered to God, some type of Altar had to be constructed. What kind? Notice that God said (at Exodus 20:24) ‘You must make an Altar to Me from the dirt…’ So nothing fancy or expensive was required. Then, notice what He said after that (Exodus 20:25): ‘Now, if you build a stone Altar to Me, don’t use cut stones…’ And at Exodus 20:26 we read, ‘Nor should you build any steps to My Altar…’ So, the Altar wasn’t to be too high, and simple rock (or dirt) construction was fine.

Of course, shortly thereafter, God gave the instruction to build the Sacred Tent, and it was to have an Altar. And while the Tent must have been beautiful in all its gold, the Altar was short and quite small, and made of wood and brass… because it was to be portable. So, the fires were kept small, and only animal fat and small organs, plus bread and wine, and tiny amounts of animal blood, were offered there.

Then a ‘clean’ and ‘perfect’ animal was to be slaughtered, and the rest of its flesh was usually to be roasted or boiled nearby – except where it was a ‘whole burnt offering.’ ‘Clean’ of course, meant that it was to be an edible animal, such as a calf, sheep, pigeon, or dove. And what was to happen to the meat? It was to be eaten by those who offered it, and by the priests. In other words, this was just a community barbecue with one’s neighbors and God. And what portion would God take on his Altar? The fat, the liver, the kidneys, etc. They were mostly offered as a form of incense or pleasing odor to Him. No angry and vengeful (or hungry) God here.

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The Heavens or Sky, the Earth or the Land?

In both the Ancient Scriptures of Israel (OT) and the Christian Era Scriptures (NT), we find all the realm of creation divided into three entities; the heavens (or sky), the earth (the land or ground), and the seas (the waters). Now, in contemporary English, we understand that there is a difference between the heavens and the sky, the earth and the land (or ground), and the seas and waters. However, in both Hebrew and Greek, these fine distinctions that we accept because of our modern technology, can’t be found. So, Genesis 1:1 could literally be translated as, ‘In the beginning, God created the sky and the ground.’

This is accurate, because it was the view of man from the earth. There was the land that he stood on, the sky above him, and the waters or seas over there. There was no technical understanding of the earth as a planet, because men didn’t view the earth as we do today, as a ball in space… it just wasn’t necessary at the time! However, because of these distinctions that we understand so well today, translators must choose the proper words to provide the right nuances in English, in order for readers to grasp the proper meaning of each text.

This is why you’ll find the Greek word ourano translated as both heaven(s) and sky herein, depending on the context. You’ll also find the Greek words ge and ges translated as earth, ground, or land, depending on the context. So, the symbolic words at 2 Peter 3:5, 6, for example, are translated herein as, ‘The thing that they don’t want to understand is this: That the ancient earth and sky were out of the water, but (in obedience to God’s instructions) they stood together between the waters.’ (For an example of the problems created by the wrong use of the words ge and ges, see the linked document Isaiah 24 - Is It Speaking of Armageddon?).

Notice that the ‘earth and sky’ were located ‘between the water.’ So, although other Bibles translated this verse as speaking of the ‘heavens and earth,’ the reference is to the portion of the heavens that are close to the earth… to the sky. Likewise, at Matthew 5:5, where Jesus spoke of the ‘meek’ as inheriting ‘the earth; since he was talking about people receiving an ‘allotment’ on the earth,’ we have chosen to translate ges as earth, not land or ground. However, the words land and ground are equally correct.

And finally, when it comes to the seas (gr. thalassa), there are already distinctions as to different types of waters in the Greek text. For instance, seas are called thalassa and rivers are called potamos (or ‘flowing’). However, notice (in Revelation 20: 13) how the resurrection of the dead is divided between those who died on land and those who were lost in the water, ‘The sea gave up its dead, death and the grave gave up those dead in them, and they were all judged by the things that they did.’

We again find all three of these realms of creation brought together symbolically at Revelation 21:1, where it says, ‘Then I saw a new earth and sky, because the previous earth and sky had disappeared, as did the sea.’

Also, in the case of where EliJah was taken in a celestial chariot, most people think he was taken to (as their Bibles put it) ‘heaven,’ where he went to live with God. This isn’t true, because King JehoRam later received a letter from Elijah (see 2 Chronicles 21:12). So, God had apparently used the celestial chariot to take him into the sky (the proper translation here), where he was then taken to another place here on the earth. For more information on this, see the linked document, The Hereafter.

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God’s Messengers

Most Bible translations render the Greek word aggelos (pronounced ahn-gel-ose – with a hard g) as angel wherever it is found. However, aggelos is just the Greek word for messenger. True, in most cases where the Bible speaks of angels, it is referring to spirit messengers from God. However, this may not be the meaning in every instance, and always translating it as angel may distort what was said in certain instances.

For example, consider the words at Acts 12:15, where Peter had just been released from prison and had appeared at the door of some faithful Christians. In Greek, the latter part of this verse reads, ‘oi de elegon Ho aggelos estin autou’ and is often translated as, ‘They began to say, It is his angel.’

This rendering doesn’t sound reasonable, for it would have been unusual for Christians to assume that an angel from God (who looked like Peter) was standing and knocking at their door. Rather, the rendering we have used herein makes more sense, ‘So they said, It’s his messenger.’

Another good example of why aggelos shouldn’t always be translated as angel can be found at Genesis 32:3, which reads in Greek, ‘Apasteile de Iakob aggelous emprosthen autou pros Hesau ton adelphon autou’ or, ‘Sent of Jacob angels ahead of him toward Esau the brother of him.’ Here Jacob was obviously sending human messengers to his brother, not heavenly ones (angels).

And consider the words at Numbers 20:14, where we read that Moses sent messengers (gr. aggelous – messengers, plural) from Cades to the king of Edom.’ Then in verse 16, it says that ‘Jehovah … heard our voice and sent His messenger (gr. aggelon – messenger, singular) who brought us out of Egypt.’

Obviously, although the same word (with only conjugated variations) is used to speak of two different types of messengers here… those who are human and those who were sent from heaven by God. As the result, most Bibles translate the first instance as messengers, but the second as angel. We have not chosen to make this distinction, and we have rendered the word as messenger or messengers in each instance, because this proper translation of the word provides readers a better look at what position these heavenly sons of God held. For, angel isn’t a heavenly rank, it’s a duty.

Also, consider the words of Haggai 1:13, where we read: ‘Then the Messenger (or angel) of Jehovah, Haggai, one of the messengers (or angels) of Jehovah, said to the people: Jehovah says, I am with you!’

Yet, Haggai was just a man, not a spirit.

Translating aggelos as messenger (when it truly means an ‘angel’) helps to provide readers a better, deeper understanding of the actual role that such spiritual sons of God play in His dealings with mankind. And it helps us to understand why the Bible never speaks of female or baby angels.

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Proper Pronunciation of the Letters C and CH in Greek Words

The most mispronounced letters when English-speaking people try to pronounce Greek or Hebrew names, is C (or CH). For, there is no ‘soft C’ pronunciation in those languages; it is always a hard C (as in Call), even when a CH is used (as in CHrist). So, the title Caesar was actually pronounced more like Kaiser (as in German). And the faithful woman Priscilla was called Prees-kee-lah, as the town of Laodicea was called La-oh-dee-keh-ah. However, don’t try to pronounce those names and titles properly, because the mispronunciations are just too well entrenched in English.

When it comes to less familiar names though, one might try to pronounce them properly. Take for example, the name of the king of Elam, Chodollogomor, or the sons of Chet, or the people called the Chaldeans. In ancient Greek, they were pronounced (approximately and respectively), Kah-dah-lah-gah-mer, Ket, and Kahl-dee-owns. Oh yes, it helps to have an interlinear Bible translation to know how the word was actually spelled, and a knowledge of how Greek vowels are pronounced.

The Greeks had two letters that they pronounced as a K. One looks like a K and is pronounced that way, with the tongue touching the roof of the mouth. The other (the one we render as C and CH in English) looks like an X and is pronounced like a K, but with the tongue touching the soft palate at the back of the mouth, which gives a breathier sound to the K. For example, say Christ and notice the part of your mouth that the tongue touches. Then say Kill and notice the difference. This is the difference between CH and K.

So, why did the Greeks have different letters for such a small variation in sound? This is because they had no alphabet until about the time of their classical poet, Homer. They then borrowed or adapted their alphabet from the Hebrews (if you could examine both alphabets from that period, you would see the similarities). And since Hebrew is a more guttural language, their letter, Cheth (where the Greeks got their letter for CH from) has a far more pronounced palate sound.

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Did an Angel Want to Kill Moses?

The words of Exodus 4:24 have long been a source of doubt and concern to most Bible students, because, what is said in both the Hebrew and Greek texts, is that an angel wanted to kill ‘him’ at an inn. For, the person mentioned in the preceding verse was Moses, so we would logically conclude that he was the person whom the angel was planning to kill. Of course, this scenario is illogical, because God had just commissioned Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that His people be freed. So, why would a messenger from God try to thwart God’s plans?

The fact that a specific person isn’t mentioned in this text, allows that the ‘him’ spoken of here, wasn’t Moses. Frequently, this portion of the Bible uses personal pronouns such as ‘him’ without disclosing who it is referring to. And that’s why you will often find names in brackets [ ] in this Bible, to clarify the name of the individual who is being spoken of by the use of a personal pronoun.

Note in this case, that the person who was spoken of in the following paragraph (in connection with this event) is Moses’ son. And his mother apparently saved his life by circumcising him right there on the spot. Why was this important? Because God’s instructions to Abraham were that every Hebrew male was to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. And if that wasn’t done, he was to be put to death (see Genesis 17:14).

So, the ‘him’ that was in danger of being killed by God’s messenger, was Moses’ son, since God’s Law had been violated by his not being circumcised.

Why hadn’t Moses circumcised his son? We don’t know, but the fact that his mother circumcised him, likely indicates that she was the one to blame… and she knew it. Remember that her father, Jethro, is described as being ‘the priest of Midian.’ Thus, he could have been a priest to a pagan god. And if so, this may have been the reason why she opposed the circumcision of her son.

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What is a ‘God?’

At Psalm 82:1 we read, ‘Our God has stood in the gathering of gods, and in the midst of the gods He judges.’

This verse – in fact, this entire Chapter – is usually not (or is only vaguely) understood. Who are the ‘gods’ that God meets with and judges? Psalm 82:6 tells us, ‘I said You are gods; of the Most High you’re sons.’ So, these words seem to apply to individuals who were created directly by God, His messengers (angels), and what became known as the demons (those who receive God’s adverse judgment).

The usual explanation of Psalm 82:6 is that God was speaking to humans, for Jesus quoted this scripture at John 10:34-36, when he said, ‘Isn’t it written in your Law, I say that you are gods? If He called those who were spoken against in God’s Word gods (and you can’t void the Scriptures), how can you tell me (one who was made holy and sent into the world by the Father) that I blaspheme because I say I’m God’s Son?’

However, notice that Jesus wasn’t saying that his listeners were gods; he was saying that those with whom God met and judged (as mentioned in the Psalms) were called gods. And these were not only God’s sons (direct creations of God), but they lived in ‘dark places’ or Tartarus (see Psalm 82:5).

God has not come and met with gatherings of men, but He has met with all His spirit creation, as Job 1:6 tells us. So from the context, we must assume that God was calling His wicked spirit sons gods, and He was warning them that when the old ‘earth and sky’ pass away (see 2 Peter 3), they too will be destroyed.

Notice that; at Exodus 7:1 God told Moses, ‘Look! I’ve made you a god to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron is your Prophet.’ So, was Moses literally turned into a god? Yes he was, if you understand what that really means.

Now, we recognize that this concept may be a bit difficult to grasp for people who were raised in a monotheistic society where the word god refers to just one individual. However, remember that the Greeks (whose language we are translating) were a polytheistic society (they worshiped many gods), and to them the word theos (god) referred to a large group of individuals who were more powerful than men. So in Greek, theos just means powerful one, not Creator (which is what the Hebrew name Jehovah implies – He who causes to be).

Also, notice how God again used the word gods at Exodus 22:28 to refer to men. In Greek this verse reads, ‘theous ou logeseis,’ or, ‘You aren’t to speak badly of the gods.’ But if you read the context, you will see that God was telling the Israelites not to speak badly of powerful humans here, not to demon ‘gods.’

Thus, the terms god and gods just refer to the powerful. And even men can be gods… that is, in the truest sense of the word’s meaning (powerful ones). So a word-for-word literal translation of John 1:1 can read, ‘In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was toward the Powerful One; and powerful was the Word.’

Then, why did we use the term God, rather than Powerful One at John 1:1 to describe The God? We’ve left the first term (God) in place, because that’s what people call the Divine One today.

So, is the Logos the God or just god (powerful)? From the context of John 1:1, it appears as though Jesus (the Logos) is theos – powerful – but not The God (gr. ton Theon). For, notice that Jesus described himself as simply God’s son (gr. Uios tou Theou eimi) at John 10:36.

Also, notice that at John 1:1, the words Logos (λογος) and Theon (θεον) are both preceded by the definite article the (ο λογος and τον θεον), except in the case where the Logos is referred to simply as theos (θεος). By employing such wording, John was obviously differentiating Jesus from The God. You can clearly see the differences in the words when you read John 1:1, 2, which says in Greek: ‘Eν αρχη ην ο λογος, και ο λογος ην προς τον θεον, και θεος ην ο λογος. Oυτος ην εν αρχη προς τον θεον.’

That the early Christians didn’t view Jesus as The God is supported by the fact that Christians still worshiped at the Temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem until shortly before it was destroyed in 70-C.E. (see Acts 3:1-3). This is because Christian Jews didn’t consider Christianity to be a new religion with a new god, but rather, that it was the natural outgrowth of the old, and Jesus was the promised ‘Messiah’ or ‘Anointed One of God’ who was to assume ‘the throne of David his father.’

As you can see, Jesus (who is referred to as ‘the Word’ here) was called ‘powerful’ (or godlike), but the following verses show that he wasn’t ‘The powerful one’ (The God). Rather, he was just powerful like (but greater than) Moses. It is the same as in the case of God’s words to Moses at Exodus 7:1, where He said that Moses was to be Pharaoh’s god. Moses was given a position of power over Pharaoh.

For more information, see the document, Who Was Jesus?

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Gnats or Fleas?

The third plague that God sent to Egypt during the time prior to the Israelite exodus was a countrywide infestation of small, biting insects. The Greek word for them is skniphes, which has been translated as gnats, fleas, mosquitoes, etc. However, we have decided that they were likely some sort of flea, because gnats aren’t thought of as biting insects, and the text indicates that they lived on the ground, which would preclude mosquitoes.

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Gadflies or Stable Flies?

The fourth plague that God sent to Egypt prior to the Israelite exodus, was a countrywide infestation of biting flies. The Greek word for them is kunomuian, which implies (and is often translated as) dog fly. And in other Bibles, they are called gadflies.

Unfortunately, both of those terms (dog fly and gadfly) are unfamiliar to most readers. However, when researching the term dog fly, we found that this is just another name for the common stable fly, which bites like a horsefly but is about the size of a housefly. That is why we have settled on this term.

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You Must Not Kill or Murder?

In recent years, the idea of putting murderers to death has become repulsive to many people, and to prove their argument that this is wrong, they often quote the words of God as found at Exodus 20:15, which say (in the King James Bible), ‘Thou shalt not kill.’

So, was God forbidding putting murders to death? That isn’t likely, for notice His instructions regarding what should be done to those who stepped on Mount Sinai while He was present there. He said at Exodus 19:13, ‘Anyone who [touches the mountain] must be pelted with rocks or shot through with arrows. Whether it’s a man or animal, [he or she] won’t live.’

Also, notice the clear instructions concerning what was to be done to murderers, as found at Exodus 21:12, ‘If any man hits another and kills him, he must absolutely be put to death.’ So, God’s clear instructions were that the Israelites were to kill gross violators of His Laws.

Now, the Greek word that some Bibles have translated as kill at Exodus 20:15, is phoneuseis. And to be honest, most Bible translators aren’t sure of its exact meaning. However, the main Greek word for kill (there are a few of them) is ktino. And this word is used (in its various conjugated forms) throughout the Bible, as when God told the Israelites that they should destroy (or kill) all the people in the cities in the Promised land, as they moved there. So, since we know that God wouldn’t give anyone conflicting laws (as in: To kill and not to kill), we must assume that the best word to translate phoneuseis is murder; for what He was forbidding was the murder of Israelite neighbors in His land.

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The ‘Chest of Proofs’ or ‘Ark of the Covenant?’

We are sorry to use such an unfamiliar term, but Ark of the Covenant may not accurately describe the sacred box that eventually held the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the writings of Moses and JoShua, the manna, and the walking stick of Aaron. First, the meaning of the ancient English word ‘ark’ has been lost in history. And the second word, ‘covenant’ (meaning, sacred agreement) isn’t always used as part of the name in the Greek text. In some places it is called the kiboton marturion, which literally means Box [of] Testimony. So, although it may have been built to illustrate the Sacred Agreement (Covenant) between God and the Israelites, it was also built to hold the Proofs of the things that God did for Israel. So, wherever the words kiboton marturion appear in the text, we have called it the Chest of Proofs. But it was also referred to as the Chest of the Sacred Agreement (or, Ark of the Covenant) at Exodus 27:21, for example, so that term must also be correct. However, after the Israelites settled in the Promised Land it was always referred to as the kiboton marturion, or the Chest of Proofs.

Unfortunately (during the time of Samuel and the High-Priest Eli), the Philistines captured the Chest, emptied its contents, and then returned it to Israel empty, because, their having it brought a plague on them (see 1 Samuel 6:12). However, later, during the time of King Solomon, the sacred tablets containing the Ten Commandments were found to be still in the Chest, but nothing else (see 1 Kings 8:9); so we have to assume that they had been found and returned.

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Propitiatory

We have searched hard for a modern English synonym for this difficult and obscure word, and have found none. Sure, it was just a cover for the sacred Chest, but cover wouldn’t properly reflect the full meaning.

The Greek word that we are struggling with is ilasterion. Other Bibles have translated it as Propitiatory, Expiation, and Mercy Seat. Yet, the first two words are unfamiliar and Mercy Seat doesn’t accurately describe what it was, because nobody was to sit on it. It was actually an Altar where the Priests sprinkled the blood of Propitiation on the Day of Atonement. And what does Propitiation mean? It refers to something that is done to sooth God’s feelings and to improve relations with Him.

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Bible Measurements

The most common unit for measuring length, height, and depth in the Bible is a cubit, which is the length of a man’s forearm. And of course, the lengths of forearms vary depending on the size of the person, so a cubit may be anywhere between eighteen and twenty-two inches. However, to give you a better idea of the size and proportions of things in the Bible, we have converted the units of measure to more familiar terms, such as feet and inches. And we have roughly averaged the sizes or lengths.

Also, some units of measure, such as a cor (about 32 bushels), hin, or bath (about 6 gallons), have been roughly estimated, since such terms are obsolete.

We have also dropped the obscure names of coins, since most readers have no idea of their value, and simply inserted the type of coin they are (gold, silver, or copper), and sometimes their size, to provide you some frame of reference.

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Minister or Servant?

For centuries, the proper translation of this word has bothered people who wish to create levels of authority within the Christian Congregation. So, to add weight to this office, the Greek word diakonos has been translated into many words in attempts to blur what it really means in English, servant. Words such as ‘deacon’ (from diakonos), minister, and even the redundancy ‘ministerial servant’ have been employed. However, what they were called in the First-Century Congregation was just servants. These qualified men handled the work and odd jobs that were necessary in running the day-to-day affairs of the congregation.

A later position of responsibility that was spoken of by Paul was the appointment of ‘elders’ or ‘overseers’ in the emerging Christian congregations. Elders likely had to be males, and their job was to shepherd and teach the congregations. However, elders were also just servants – that is, servants with a small ‘s.’

The Scriptures show that; In order to qualify as servants in the congregation, men (and possibly women) had to meet high standards of conduct and reputation. And although Paul didn’t mention it specifically, they were expected to be able to make wise decisions and to show signs of having God’s Breath. Notice that these were the qualifications for all servants in the Christian Congregation, for Acts 6:3 says: ‘So, brothers, find seven qualified men among you who are filled with wisdom and the Breath [of God].’

For more information, see the linked document, Arrangement of the First Christian Churches.

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The Expression of Judgment

The term, Expression of Judgment (gr. logeion ton kriseon) is what the Greek text tells us that God used to describe the special jeweled chest covering of gold cloth that the Israelite High Priest wore when he served on special occasions. It had twelve different types of gems, each of which had the name of one of the Sons of Israel engraved upon it. The different types of stones likely signified different qualities of these individuals and/or their tribes.

It is interesting that the names were to be of the Sons of Israel, not the names of the tribes, so it is likely that Joseph would supplant the tribal names of his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, and the Priestly tribe of Levi would have had its own stone.

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The Revelation and the Truth

How did JoShua learn of God’s decisions? The text at Numbers 27:21 tells us, ‘Then he must stand alongside EliEzer the Priest, and whenever they come before Jehovah to ask for the judgments of the Revelation, they must do whatever he says.’

The Greek word that we have translated as Revelation is delon. And while other Bibles have translated it with the Hebrew word urim, or urim and thumim, the Greek word from the Septuagint just means revelation.

Delon is a conjugation of the word delosin, which is found at Exodus 28:26, where God told Moses (when He was describing the High Priest’s official clothes), ‘You are to put the Revelation and the Truth (gr. ten delosin kai ten aletheian) on the Expression of Judgment, and Aaron will wear it on his chest when he enters the Holy Place before Jehovah.’

Unfortunately, this description is only found in the Greek Septuagint, where exactly what the Revelation and the Truth is, isn’t identified. However, tradition has it that this item, which was referred to in the Hebrew text as the Urim and Thumim, was used in some way to indicate God’s decisions. And according to the wording, JoShua was to stand next to the High Priest who wore this item on his chest, to determine God’s will.

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Anointing

At Exodus 29:29 we find that Aaron and his sons were to be ‘anointed’ as Priests to Jehovah, and that this action would make them ‘holy’ or clean. It also signified that they had been chosen to this office by God. And in Leviticus, when we read of the ‘anointed’ Priest, the reference seems to be to one of the Priests who has been chosen for the special office of what later became known as the High Priest.

The Greek word that we have translated as anointed here, is chriseis, which can also be translated as Christ (it’s just a conjugation of Christos), since christ and anointed both come from the same root, which is Greek for olive oil (it may also mean Judged, since the words are similar). So, Jesus wasn’t the first or the only one to be correctly referred to as a christ.

Why olive oil? Because, that substance was traditionally poured over the heads of those whom God chose to be Priests and kings over Israel. However, at least in the case of Aaron and his sons, fragrant herbs were added to the oil to give it a pleasing odor. This is implied at Exodus 25:7, where the Israelites were asked to donate ‘fragrances for anointing oil.’ And we find the exact formula for the anointing oil at Exodus 30:34, where we read that it was to be made from ‘sixteen pounds of choice myrrh flowers, eight pounds of sweet-smelling cinnamon, eight pounds of sweet-smelling calamus, sixteen pounds of cassia (for the Holy Place), and a gallon of olive oil.’

The physical anointing with oil also appears to have pictured their receiving of God’s Holy Breath, making them ‘holy,’ which was an appropriate description for Jesus years later. And remember that both the ‘anointed’ priests and the kings pictured Jesus. So, the term christ is apropos.

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Empowering the Priests

At Exodus 28:37 we read: ‘Then you must dress your brother Aaron and his sons, and anoint them [with oil]. Empower them and make them holy, so they can serve Me as Priests.’

However, this entire verse reads quite differently in the Hebrew text. There is no mention of anointing or empowerment. So, we wonder which is correct, and we have no frame of reference to determine what was meant here (if the Septuagint is the correct rendering).

In Greek, the words that we are concerned with are kai empleseis auton tas cheiras, or, and fill of them the hands.

Since Aaron and his sons are being spoken of in the previous part of the sentence as being anointed with oil, the natural assumption is that the oil was to be allowed to run into their hands. However, we find the same pair of instructions at Exodus 29:7-9, and there the Hebrew text agrees with the Greek. So, as one Bible translation puts it, their hands must be filled with power. In this case, the Greek text reads, kai teleioseis Aaron tas cheiras autou kai tas cheiras ton uion autou, or, and finish Aaron the hands of him and the hands of the sons of him.

So, since both instructions seem to follow the same sequence and both speak of a similar act, we have concluded that both verses are saying that Aaron and his sons were to undergo some sort of empowerment ceremony following their anointing.

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The ‘Tabernacle’ or the ‘Tent of Proofs?’

We are sure that many will object to our calling God’s place of worship in the desert a ‘tent’ rather than a ‘tabernacle.’ However, tabernacle is just an obsolete word, the true meaning of which most people misunderstand, so for clarification, we have opted to use the modern word, tent. Because, it was for a fact, a portable building made of cloth.

Actually, this tent is often referred to in Greek as the skenes tou marturion, or, Tent (or Temporary Dwelling) of Testimony. And the reason why they called it that, was because it housed the kiboton martyrion (Box [of] Witness), which is also referred to in other Bibles as the Ark of the Covenant. So, we have translated it as the Tent of Proofs wherever these Greek words are found.

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The Last Lamb?

The Twenty-Ninth Chapter of Exodus talks about a calf and two lambs that must be sacrificed as a rite of empowerment for Aaron and his sons to be Priests. And we have referred to the sacrificing of the last lamb as just that; the end of the ceremony, or the last lamb. However, other Bibles refer to this as the Sacrifice of Consecration, the Ram of Installation, etc. So, why have we deviated in our rendering of this term?

In Greek, the words kriou teleioseos simply mean lamb final. And it was for a fact the last lamb or sacrifice offered during that seven-day event. So, we feel that last lamb or the end of the ceremony more accurately reflect the words, as found in the Greek Septuagint.

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Did Aaron Personally Make the Gold Calf?

Although the Bible text of the creation of the gold calf in the desert seems to indicate that this was the personal handiwork of Aaron, the next verse indicates that he had likely authorized someone else (skilled craftsmen) to do the actual work, because, he didn’t build an Altar to it until after he saw the idol. So, the reason why he was spoken of as ‘making’ the calf, was because he was responsible for building it… and that’s why we have rendered these texts as we have… to clarify that point. He likely didn’t have the necessary craftsmanship skills to do the work.

Also, notice that the calf was supposed to represent Jehovah, so the people didn’t really think of themselves as worshiping another god. They just wanted something they could SEE to worship, like the gods they could see in Egypt… ‘memory aids.’ And since a calf was often the first (and most valuable) sacrifice offered, this might have been the reason for its being carved into that shape. However, remember that God had already forbidden making or using idols, and that’s why He was so displeased. They shouldn’t have needed anything to see as proof that He was there.

Why wasn’t Aaron held more to blame for his part in building the idol? Apparently, God still saw something good in Aaron. Remember that the previous few Chapters told of what God was saying to Moses while he was on the mountain, and He knew what was going on down below. Yet, God still spoke of the honor and position that was to be shown to Aaron and his sons.

This situation may be very difficult for many to understand, because of the history of knowledge that we have accumulated about God today. However, what most people don’t realize is how rudimentary the knowledge and ideas about God were at the time… even for Aaron. Because, prior to the previous few months (during which they had been delivered from Egypt), there had been little contact with God for a couple of hundred years! So, the proper ways of serving God had been forgotten. And as the result, God had to start from scratch in building and shaping a nation of worshipers… and they had to be taught some very hard lessons along the way; and often, death was involved, because people had to understand that this was a life-and-death matter.

Notice too that when Moses asked, ‘Who is on Jehovah’s side?’ and assembled a small army to slaughter the unfaithful, ‘the Sons of Levi,’ which could have included Aaron and his family, came to Moses and took their stand for Jehovah as their God.

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Was Moses Alone on the Mountain With Jehovah?

If you were to ask the majority of Christians or Jews this question, most would likely answer; Yes. But that isn’t what the Bible tells us. It shows that; When Moses ascended the Mount Sinai and stayed there for forty days to receive the commandments, JoShua was there also. However, he wasn’t in the presence of God, as Moses was. For, notice what we read at Exodus 24:13: ‘So, [the next day] Moses got up and took his assistant JoShua to climb the mountain of God with him.’ Then, as Moses was descending the mountain with the stone tablets, JoShua was still there, because Exodus 32:17 tells us, ‘And when JoShua heard the voices of people shouting, he said to Moses, That’s the sound of a war in the camp.’

So, JoShua played a greater role at that time than most people believe (before he led the people into the Promised Land).

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Hebrews, Israelites, Jews, and ‘Semites’

We often hear people using the above terms interchangeably, as though they all refer to the same people, and they don’t. Abraham and all his descendants were Hebrews. That is, they all descended through Abram’s (or Abraham’s) great, great, great grandfather, Heber. However, many other lines of descent also came from this man; so, many other races are likely Hebrews also.

The first mention of the word Hebrew, is found at Genesis 14:13, where Abraham was referred to as a Hebrew. And thereafter, Isaac, IshMaEl, and Abraham’s other sons were also called Hebrews, as were Jacob, Esau, and all their descendants.

The first Israelites (who were also Hebrews) were the twelve sons of Jacob (whom God renamed Israel). Then their families were thereafter often referred to both as the ‘Sons of Israel’ and as ‘Hebrews.’ Then, during the time of David, a split is to be noted between the tribe of Judah (the Jews), and Israel. For, during the first portion of David’s reign, he ruled over just Judah; and then later, both he and Solomon ruled over all the tribes, a reunited Israel.

However, the split between the tribes arose once again after the rule of Solomon, when the northern ten tribes rebelled, creating their own kingdom called Israel, leaving the southern two tribes (Judah and BenJamin), who were referred to in English as the Jews.

And actually, there were many people who came to be called both Jews and Israelites, which weren’t related to either Judah or Israel. This is because God’s Law allowed foreigners to become a part of the nation. In fact, RaHab, the prostitute of Jericho (who was a CanaAnite, not a Semite, Hebrew, or Israelite) became the ancestress of Kings David and Solomon, and eventually Jesus; and this was also true of the Moabite, Ruth.

The Anglicized term ‘Jew’ is an English corruption of the word ‘Judean.’ And although Jesus and many of his disciples were in fact Judeans, they were often referred to by people who lived in the Roman province of Judea, as Galileans, because they came from an area outside Judea near the Sea of Galilee. Also, when Jesus and his disciples spoke of the Jews, they were often specifically referring to people who lived in and around the city of Jerusalem.

The term ‘Semite’ even predates the term ‘Hebrew,’ because it refers to descendants of Noah’s son Shem, which likely covers at least one-third of the peoples on the earth. So, when someone accuses another of being ‘anti-Semitic,’ he or she is actually accusing the person of being biased against a broad range of peoples, including many so-called Arab nations. For, many Arab nations are also Hebrews, and some directly descend from Abraham and even Israel.

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Synagogue

We find the word synagogue (gr. synagoges) mentioned several times while the Israelites were in the desert. Just what type of building was this?

Well, it wasn’t a building at all. Actually, synagogue means a gathering, and the entire nation of Israel was usually referred to as a synagogue. It wasn’t until in later years, after they had entered the Promised Land, and possibly after their return from exile in Babylon, that they built buildings for worship (other than the Temple). Then later, they started referring to the buildings as synagogues. And while synagogues are mentioned several times in the Christian Era Scriptures, the only mention of one as a Christian meeting place can be found at James 2:2. In every other instance, it refers to Judaic houses of worship.

This referring to a building as a gathering is similar to what happened in Christendom. For, in older Bibles, Christian gatherings (gr. ekklesias) were called churches. But before long, members started referring to the buildings as churches. For more information see the linked document, Church, Synagogue, or Called Ones.

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Manna

What was manna? All we know is what the Bible tells us. At Exodus 16:31 we read, ‘And the children of Israel called this [food] manna. It looked like white coriander seeds and tasted like crackers and honey.’

The manna appeared miraculously every morning after the dew dried. The account says it looked like white coriander (cilantro) seeds, which are perfectly round and about a quarter-inch in size. And the description that they tasted like (whole-wheat) crackers and honey provides us a good idea of its flavor. In the Hebrew text, all we read that it looked like (hoar) frost on the ground… and we are sure it did. However, the description of each portion looking like a coriander seed (in the Septuagint) is far more descriptive.

What does manna mean? It is thought that those were the first words they said in Hebrew when the saw it, ‘Man hu?’ or, ‘What is it?’

Was manna the result of some natural phenomenon? That isn’t likely, because there is no other account of anything like it in history. And the fact that no matter how much of it a person gathered, it was always enough. And that it spoiled every night after sundown – except on the night before the Sabbath – is a pretty-good indication that God was its source. However, the mention of the dew drying may indicate that it was gathered by the moisture in the morning air.

Was manna all that the children of Israel ate? No, God provided birds for them to eat on at least one occasion, so they could hunt for ‘clean’ animals. And don’t forget that they were herders of sheep, goats, and bulls, which were also sources for food on special occasions. This is proven by the fact that they were allowed to eat the meat of some sacrifices. So theirs wasn’t a bland, humdrum diet as many think.

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Dogs

The first mention of dogs as human companions in the Bible is found at Exodus 11:7, where Moses was promised that in Egypt, ‘not even a dog will snarl at a man or an animal’ among the Hebrews. So, we must conclude that dogs were kept as companions among them, and were likely used to herd their cattle.

The next mention of dogs was when God was giving them commandments as to what the Israelites could and couldn’t eat. We find this at Exodus 22:31: ‘And you must be holy [people] to Me. You must not eat the flesh of wild animals. You should throw it to the dogs.’

So, we know from this account that dogs also traveled with the Hebrews into the desert during their forty-year trek, and, since they weren’t allowed to eat them, into the Promised Land.

According to historians, the people who lived in the land of Canaan (such as the Israelites) were possibly the first to domesticate dogs and keep them as pets, for the Latin name for dogs, canis appears to have come from the term Canaanite.

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Should Christians Agree on Everything?

At Exodus 23:2 we read these wise words: ‘You must not join a mob to do bad things, nor should you agree with the majority when they are wrong.’ In Greek this reads, ‘Ouk esemeta pleinon epi kakia ou prostethese meta plethous ekklinon meta pleinon oste ekklinai krisin,’ or, ‘Not join the/majority on bad or go/along with the/majority’s inclinations with many who are/inclined/toward judgment.’ Agreed, the words are different, but the thought is the same.

Most religions do in fact teach that; among their leaders, the minority must agree with the majority, to show harmony… as in a form of Democracy. And to prove that this is the right thing to do, religious leaders like to quote Paul’s words, as found at 1 Corinthians 1:10, which say, ‘Now, through the name of our Lord Jesus the Chosen One, I want to encourage you brothers to all teach the same thing. There shouldn’t be any divisions among you, but you must all learn to think the same way and share the same opinions.’

So, was Paul encouraging Christians to go along with the majority, even when they are wrong on doctrines and spiritual issues? Those who are in charge might like to tell us that this is so. But God’s commandment at Exodus 23:2 says that this should never be done. So then, was God contradicting Paul? No, for notice the problem that Paul was discussing at 1 Corinthians 1:11-13: ‘Now, those of the house of Chloe have told me that you do a lot of quarreling, my brothers. What I mean is that; some of you are saying, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow the Anointed; so the Anointed One is divided. Why, Paul wasn’t hung on a pole for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?’

As you can see, he was addressing a situation in the Corinthian congregation where the group was becoming divided into various sects or followings. And what Paul was saying, was that they should be trying to find harmony in the teachings of Jesus, not that they should follow the majority, right or wrong. There should be unity in TRUTH, not in following the crowd.

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Unspotted, Sinless, or Perfect Lamb?

In many other Bibles, we read that the Israelites were to offer unspotted lambs in their sacrifices to God. Did this mean that the animals were to be perfectly white with no spots, or did it mean that they were to be perfectly healthy?

It is interesting that the Greek word often translated as unspotted is hamartias, which really means without sin. Obviously, the word sin can’t really be applied to animals, as we understand those terms, so hamartias must have meant that the lambs were to be physically perfect. And we don’t know if this means that they should have no literal spots (as indicated by other Bibles), but that could have been implied. Yet, other sacrificial animals that are naturally spotted (such as bulls and goats) are also described as having to be perfect, since hamartias, or a related Greek word, hamoma (which can’t be directly translated into English) is also used to describe them. So, those words should actually be translated as sinless; however, translating it that way might be confusing to readers who would think of sin as actions, not physical attributes; so we have decided to use the word perfect (although that term is better translated from the Greek word telios… which was used to describe the Anointed Priest).

In view of the fact that God often required just the undesirable portions of an animal for sacrifices (the fat, liver, and kidneys), one might wonder why He required the animals to be healthy (not sick, lame, or deformed). Well, we first have to understand the meanings of the sacrifices. They were required to show the need for the sacrifice of a perfect human to redeem mankind in general from the effects of the imperfection, sin, and death that we inherited from Adam (due to his sin in the Paradise). At 1 Peter 1:19, for example, we can clearly see that these perfect animals which were sacrificed, pictured God’s offering of His perfect son, Jesus. And at John 1:29 he was described as ‘The Lamb of God who lifts sin from the world!’

Unfortunately, many today (due to religious cynicism and wrong teachings) have lost sight of just who Jesus was, what type of person he had to be, and why he had to die as he did. But, the perfection (hamartias) of the lamb and the perfection (telios) of the Anointed (christos or Christ) Priests showed that both had to be sinless… like Jesus, the perfect son of God.

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Sinai, Horeb, or the Dry Place?

On what mountain did Moses meet with God, Sinai or Horeb? Actually, both names seem to be mentioned interchangeably in most Bibles, for at Exodus 34:2 Moses was told, ‘So, be ready to climb Mount Sinai in the morning, then stand there [and wait] for Me on top of the Mountain.’ But at Exodus 33:6, we find that the Israelites were gathered at Mount Horeb. Why were both names used?

Well, Horeb may not have actually been a name, but a description that was mistranslated as a name… something that has happened with several other words in the Bible. Ho’reb is a Hebrew word for dry, which aptly describes this land in the Sin (pronounced Seen and/or Sheen) Desert, near the southern tip of Arabia. For it is where Moses, by the power of God, struck the rock to bring out water for the people to drink, since there was no other source of water there.

Sinai may have gotten its name from its prominent place toward the end of the Sin Desert, for Sin-ai could possibly mean the City in the Sin (Desert). However, Hebrew scholars say Sinai means bush, referring to the burning bush where God spoke to Moses.

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Which of the Pharaohs of Egypt Did Moses Speak To?

This subject of which Pharaoh Moses was dealing with when he (through God’s power) brought the ten plagues upon Egypt, has been debated among Bible scholars and archeologists for centuries; however, due to a general lack of trust in the accuracy of the Bible accounts, most have assumed that it was a Pharaoh who lived much later than the Bible account suggests. However, Bible chronology suggests that the exodus from Egypt happened around 1513-B.C.E., so we suspect that whoever the Pharaoh was, he lived and ruled at that time.

What Egyptian hieroglyphics tell us, is that a people known as the Hyksos (from the land of Canaan) invaded Egypt during the period when the Hebrews were living there, and that they dominated Egypt for about ninety years. Then, sometime in the late 1500s-B.C.E., a Pharaoh (possibly Kamose) arose who conquered them, and thereafter he seems to have disappeared.

Now, if such people (the Hyksos) did in fact conquer Egypt, we would expect to read about them in the detailed Bible accounts in Exodus, and we don’t. However, if you consider what happened through the eyes and propaganda of the Egyptians, you can see that the Hyksos were unquestionably the Hebrews. After all, they lived in the land during that period, and according to the Bible, Joseph did become the effective ruler of all Egypt. But thereafter, the Egyptians became frightened of the Israelites, for we read at Exodus 1:9, 10, ‘Look! The children of Israel have [grown tremendously] and they are now more powerful than we are! So, let’s be smooth in the way we deal with them, because, if they continue to grow and then we find ourselves at war, they could side with our enemies. And after they beat us in war, they will leave our land.’

So, you can see how (with a little governmental propaganda to justify their actions against the Hebrews and a total defeat in war) the story that the Egyptians tell, is about their being dominated by the Hyksos, and how they fought a war to liberate themselves. Yet, the Egyptian history of where these people came from, what part of Egypt they lived in, and many more details, prove that Hyksos (pronounced heek-sos) was just the Egyptian pronunciation of Hebrews.

Then, why do archeologists claim that the Hyksos weren’t the Hebrews? Because, such a conclusion would take this Bible story (and its chronology) from the realm of myth or a minor historical event, and elevate it to a major event that is well documented in history. And so, archeologists prefer to accept the Egyptian description of what happened. For more information, please see the link, ‘Egypt: Tempest & Exodus: The Biblical Exodus Inscribed on an Ancient Egyptian Stele.

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Hebrew Songs and Poetry

While we as translators claim no in-depth knowledge of the Hebrew language (this is a GREEK Bible translation), we do find its poetry, blessings, and songs interesting and beautiful. For, rather than putting the words together in a rime (as we do in English, where ending words must sound alike), the sentences fit together where the thoughts follow each other, so that they could be easily remembered and sung. Therefore, the actual words didn’t have to be memorized, for, as long as a person understands the thought, the poetry can be correctly repeated using slightly different words.

You’ll notice that each song seemed to have about four verses, for the verses followed in a logical order. However, in our translation we sometimes find only three verses… or sometimes two or six. And this may be due to our misunderstanding of their methods, or due to problems with translation (both ancient and ours).

However, as you go along in the Bible, you will also find entire books written in poetry (such as Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc.), and most prophecies (such as those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.) were spoken and written in a form that is similar to songs, especially where God and His messengers are speaking. It was probably done this way to be remembered and repeated… perhaps even as songs, for that was an ancient Hebrew means of mass communication.

Why, many of Jesus’ parables were spoken and recorded as poetry, such as that portion called the beatitudes (Matthew 5).

Notice that; where we find the natural poetic rhythm in our translating, we have tried to restore the cadence for your benefit. This requires some rearranging and the addition or removal of extraneous words, but we have zealously worked to maintain the true meaning of the texts. Why is this necessary? Well, not only does it provide pleasant reading, but in places where the lyrics can’t be resolved, this provides a clear indication that something has been lost through the years. Proverbs 25 and 26, for example, by their lack of natural cadence and harmony, indicate questionable inspiration or a corruption of the original text. Also, God must consider the beauty of the text important, because that was the way He inspired it to be written.

You might notice the two verses of a song that the Israelite women were singing when Saul and David returned from a battle (1 Samuel 18:7): ‘Saul has cut down thousands,
And David his ten thousands.’
Although these were just a few words of a much longer victory song, those particular words offended Saul, for he felt that David was being considered more important than he was. Yet, if you understand Hebrew poetry, you would see that the words were part of a natural progression of words and they weren’t actually chosen to elevate David or to offend Saul. Rather, Saul was being petty.

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Moses’ Question about the ‘Name’ of God

(Contributed)

An inaccurate translation of Exodus 3:13 leads to a faulty understanding of this verse. In numerous Bibles, one can read the question: ‘What is his name?’ as in Judges 13:17, when ManoAh wanted to know the name (that is, the pronunciation of the name) of the angel who came to meet him. On the other hand, the Israelites asked Moses: ‘How is his name?’ – that is, ‘What does His name mean?’ or ‘What does His fame mean?’

One can verify that in Hebrew, the interrogation ‘what is,’ or ‘how is,’ is ‘mâ.’ And ‘who is,’ is ‘mî.’ Thus, there’s a big difference between asking to know a name because one is in ignorance of it (as in Ezra 5:4), and asking the meaning of a name, which one already knows, as in Genesis 32:27 where the angel asks Jacob to remind him of the meaning of his name (He will supplant), which meaning was already known to him (Genesis 27:36), in order to give him a new one (He will contend – Genesis 32:28).

Thus, when Moses asked God: ‘How is his name?’ God gave the explanation ‘I shall [prove to] be who (or what) I shall [prove to] be’ (èhyèh ashèr èhyèh). Even here, regrettably, numerous translators are influenced by Greek philosophy on The Being as existing that was developed by Plato in some of his works, including ‘Parmenides.’ For example, the Septuagint translated this passage as ‘I am the Being (égô éimi o ôn in Greek), or, ‘I am He who is.’ Yet Aquila’s Translation (which is more faithful to Hebrew) translates this sentence as, I shall be: I shall be (ésomai ésomai in Greek).

As you can see; from a study on the translation of this sentence, the difficulty results from translators who want to explain this translation by means of their personal beliefs, which are very often influenced by Greek philosophy; otherwise there is no difficulty. For example, one finds the word èhyèh just before Exodus 3:12 and just after Exodus 4:12, 15, and here translators have no problem translating it as ‘I shall [prove to be] with you.’ Moreover, the Talmud retains this explanation for the meaning of the Name.

A better translation of Exodus 3:13, 14 would then be: Then Moses said to God, ‘Look, I’ll go to the children of Israel and tell them the God of our ancestors has sent me to you, but they’re going to ask, How is his name? What should I tell them?’ And God told Moses, ‘I shall [prove to] be what I shall [prove to] be! Just tell the children of Israel that I shall [prove to] be has sent you.’

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Zeal

At Psalm 37:8 we read, ‘Stop being angry and abandon your rage. Don’t allow zeal to make you act wicked’ (yes, we know, the word should be wickedly, but this is poetic license). However, those words could also be translated as, ‘Do not allow jealously to cause you to act wickedly,’ because the Greek word zelos can either be translated as zealous or as jealous, depending on the circumstances, for both words mean the same thing. Yet, the two words imply different things in English.

Zeal is usually thought of as something good… something that all Christians should have, as in zeal for God and righteousness. And jealously is thought of as something bad… as wanting something that belongs to someone else. Yet, God may be spoken of as being jealous over His Name and His position as God, so jealously isn’t always a bad thing. And we can have zeal for things that are ours and we are proud of (which is not bad), and be jealous of things that belong to others (which is bad). So, the same Greek word (zelos) may be correctly translated as zeal in one place, and as jealously in another, depending on the context.

Then, is it proper for a man to be jealous of his wife, or for a wife to be jealous of her husband? No, we should never be jealous of each other, but for each other. We shouldn’t want what the other has, but we should have a burning zeal for each other. So, if one has good reason to worry about losing the love of the other, that is zeal. However, if such concern is baseless, that is wicked suspicion, not jealously.

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Why Capitals in Bible Names?

You have likely noticed that we are putting some of the letters in Bible names in capital letters. For example, we’ve started spelling such names as Jonathan as JoNathan, Isaiah as IsaiJah, and Eliezer as EliEzer. Why? Well, partly to help with the correct pronunciations of the names, and partly to show some translating consistency.

We all know that the common English pronunciation of Jonathan (for example) is Jon-uh-thun. But did you know that the first part of the name (Io in Greek, Ieho in Hebrew) refers to the name Jehovah, and the second part of the Name (Nathan) means Gift? So, the name was originally pronounced closer to Ye-hoh-nuh-thahn.

In the case of names that end with an iah, as in Isaiah, the last part of the name often includes the name of God. Isaiah, for example, means Salvation [of] Jehovah, and it was originally pronounced Ee-sai-Yah. So, why have we substituted a capital ‘J’ for the letters ‘ie’ in both of the above cases? Well, we recognize that there is an inconsistency here, because there was no letter ‘J’ in Hebrew or Greek alphabets. However, we have the choice of changing all names that start with ‘J’ (such as Jesus, John, Jonah, JoShua, Jeremiah, etc.) to start with the letters ‘Ie’, or for consistency, we can change all the ‘Ies’ into ‘Js’, which is what we have done. Realize that several other Hebrew consonants are commonly mispronounced in English, which no one objects to, so this minor deviation should not be objectionable to the thinking.

Does this mean then that we are setting out a new rule for name spelling? Absolutely not, for centuries ago, a Bible translator first established this rule when he spelled the name Eliou (Greek spelling, pronounced ay-lee-ou) and wrote it as EliJah, because this name is regarded as meaning ‘My God is Jehovah.’

Also notice that where a name ends with an iah, as in Jeremiah (Jehovah exalts), we have often spelled it as iJah, because the I would typically be pronounced as a long E, followed by a Y in Hebrew, and writing it without the I (as in JeremJah) misses this nuance. So, we have rendered it as JeremiJah, which is similar to the way it is often pronounced by modern-day Hebrew-speaking Jews, YeremiYah.

Another important word in names that we usually capitalize is ‘El’ (from the Hebrew Elohe, or God). So EliEzer (which people commonly pronounce Eelai-eezer and means God [has] Helped) should actually be pronounced El-ee-eh-zer. The same is true for the letters Ai, especially in the names of cities, because Ai in Hebrew refers to the word city. So, AiLam (for example) probably meant the City of Lam.

Similar words, such as Bel (as in BelShazzar), Baal, and Beel, refer to ‘the Lord’ or ‘the God.’ Also, the prefixes ‘Ben’ and ‘Bar’ mean ‘the son of.’ ‘Beth’ means ‘the house of,’ ‘Beer’ refers to a ‘well,’ ‘Is’ or ‘Ish’ means ‘Man,’ etc.

Does this mean that we have put all the capitals in the right places? No, for we make no claim to Hebrew scholarship (all our translating here has been from Greek). So, what we are trying to do is provide a better understanding to how these names were pronounced by First-Century Christians.

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