Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”

The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.

So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.

The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.

Moses said, “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord.”

When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.

But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.

So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it.

Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.

He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good.

You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.

Then the Lord said to him, “Go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, or He will break forth upon them.”

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.”

You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.

If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.

And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’

But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’

“If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.

If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her.

If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.

If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.

“If men have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but remains in bed,

“If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.

If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.

“If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.

If the thief is not caught, then the owner of the house shall appear before the judges, to determine whether he laid his hands on his neighbor’s property.

an oath before the Lord shall be made by the two of them that he has not laid hands on his neighbor’s property; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.

If it is all torn to pieces, let him bring it as evidence; he shall not make restitution for what has been torn to pieces.

“If a man borrows anything from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while its owner is not with it, he shall make full restitution.

If its owner is with it, he shall not make restitution; if it is hired, it came for its hire.

“If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife.

“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.

“If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest.

“You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

“You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.

“You shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

“You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.

You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice;

“You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.

Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty.

“You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.

“You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.

“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning.

“You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.“You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.

Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him.

You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their sacred pillars in pieces.

I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.

They shall not live in your land, because they will make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

Moses alone, however, shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”

Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.

The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it.

You shall make for it a grating of network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners.

You shall put it beneath, under the ledge of the altar, so that the net will reach halfway up the altar.

They shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it will be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastpiece will not come loose from the ephod.

There shall be an opening at its top in the middle of it; around its opening there shall be a binding of woven work, like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it will not be torn.

It shall be on Aaron when he ministers; and its tinkling shall be heard when he enters and leaves the holy place before the Lord, so that he will not die.

They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.

Thus they shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy.

If any of the flesh of ordination or any of the bread remains until morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it.

The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves.

when they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the Lord.

So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.”

It shall not be poured on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any like it in the same proportions; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you.

The incense which you shall make, you shall not make in the same proportions for yourselves; it shall be holy to you for the Lord.

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

But he said,
“It is not the sound of the cry of triumph,
Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;
But the sound of singing I hear.”

Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.

For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!”

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’

Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.

For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”