When Moses’ father-in-law saw everything that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting alone [as a judge] with all the people standing around you from dawn to dusk?”

You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you [to bear]; you cannot do it alone.

If you will do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure [the responsibility], and all these people will also go [back] to their tents in peace.”

Moses went up to God [on the mountain], and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Say this to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites:

If the ox has gored another’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

This is the offering you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze,

The cubit on one side and the cubit on the other, of what is left over in the length of the curtains of the tent shall lap over the sides of the tabernacle on one side and the other side, to cover it.

“This is what you shall do to consecrate Aaron and his sons so that they may serve Me as priests: take one young bull and two rams, without blemish,

“Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs shall be offered each day, continuously.

This will be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.

This is what everyone who is counted shall give [as he joins those already counted]: a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel (the shekel is twenty gerahs); a half shekel as a contribution to the Lord.

Everyone who is counted, from twenty years old and over, [as he joins those already counted], shall give this contribution to the Lord.

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

You shall say to the Israelites, ‘This shall be a holy and sacred anointing oil, to Me [alone] throughout your generations.

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before 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.”

The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people.

Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil [intent] their God brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from Your burning anger and change Your mind about harming Your people.

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), Your servants to whom You swore [an oath] by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin on them?”

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

I said to them, ‘Let whoever has gold [jewelry], take it off.’ So they gave it to me; then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

Then Moses said [to the Levites], “Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for each man has been against his own son and his own brother [in his attempt to escape execution]—so that He may restore and bestow His blessing on you this day.”

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

Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways so that I may know You [becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, recognizing and understanding Your ways more clearly] and that I may find grace and favor in Your sight. And consider also, that this nation is Your people.”

The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have asked; for you have found favor (lovingkindness, mercy) in My sight and I have known you [personally] by name.”

“Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

And Moses said to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded:

He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set; he also did this on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set.

Each board had two tenons (dovetails), fitted to one another; he did this for all the boards of the tabernacle.

This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as counted according to the command of Moses, for the work of the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. Out of it he shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall offer this up in smoke on the altar [of burnt offering] as the memorial portion of it. It is an offering by fire, a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord.

He shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; that is what he shall do with this. So the priest shall make atonement for [the sin of] the people, and they will be forgiven.

“Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering shall remain on the hearth that is on the altar all night until morning and the fire is to be kept burning on the altar.

‘Now this is the law of the grain offering: the sons of Aaron shall present it before the Lord in front of the altar.

“This is the offering which Aaron and his sons are to present to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: the tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.

“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the sin offering: the sin offering shall be killed before the Lord in the [same] place where the burnt offering is killed; it is most holy.

Every male among the priests may eat this offering; it is most holy.

‘This is the law of the guilt offering; it is most holy.

‘Now this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which shall be presented to the Lord:

‘This is the consecrated portion from the offerings by fire to the Lord that was designated for Aaron and his sons on the day he presented them to serve as priests to the Lord.

The Lord commanded this to be given to the priests by the Israelites on the day that He anointed them. It is their portion perpetually throughout their generations.’”

This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the consecration (ordination) offering, and the sacrifice of peace offerings,

Moses said to the congregation, “This is what the Lord has commanded us to do.”

As has been done this day, so the Lord has commanded to do for your atonement.

Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord said:

‘I will be treated as holy by those who approach Me,
And before all the people I will be honored.’”

So Aaron, therefore, said nothing.

Then Aaron said to Moses, “This very day they have [obediently] presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, but [such terrible things] as these have happened to me [and to them]; if I [and my sons] had eaten a sin offering today would it have been acceptable and pleasing in the sight of the Lord?”

This is the law regarding the animal and the bird and every living thing that moves in the waters and everything that swarms on the earth,

and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who gives birth to a child, whether a male or a female child.

This is the law for a leprous disease in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp or woof, or on anything made of leather, to pronounce it clean or unclean.

“This shall be the law of the leper on the day of his [ceremonial] cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest [at a meeting place outside the camp];

This is the law for the one in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose means are limited for his [ceremonial] cleansing.”

This is the law for any mark of leprosy—even for a scale,

to teach when they are unclean and when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy [in regard to both persons and property].

This shall be [the law concerning] his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his body allows its discharge to flow or obstructs its flow; it is uncleanness in him.

This is the law for the one who has a discharge and for the one who has a seminal emission, so that he is unclean by it;

Aaron [as high priest] shall enter the Holy Place in this way: with [the blood of] a young bull as a sin offering and [the blood of] a ram as a burnt offering.

for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord.

This shall be a permanent statute for you, so that atonement may be made for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year.” So he did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded, saying,

This is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing [to idols] in the open field [where they killed them], that they may bring them in to the Lord, at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting to the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord.

So they shall no longer offer their sacrifices to goat-idols or demons or field spirits with which they have played the prostitute. This shall be a permanent statute for them throughout their generations.”’

You shall not eat any bread or roasted grain or new growth, until this same day when you bring in the offering to your God; it is a permanent statute throughout your generations wherever you may be.

“Also the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble yourselves [by fasting] and present an offering by fire to the Lord.

You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God.

If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

“Say to the children of Israel, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, and for seven days, is the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) to the Lord.

This is in addition to the [weekly] Sabbaths of the Lord, and in addition to your gifts and all your vowed offerings and all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.

‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his own [ancestral] property.

then [this is My answer:] I will order My [special] blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce [sufficient] crops for three years.

I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to languish also. And you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat what you plant.

If in spite of all this you still will not listen to Me and be obedient, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

‘Yet if in spite of this you will not [attentively] listen to Me but act with hostility against me,

This is the work and responsibility of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle): the most holy things.

This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying [when on the march]:

This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle); and their duties shall be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron, the [high] priest.

This is what they are assigned to carry [on the march], according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the boards [for the framework] of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its sockets or bases,

This is the work of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their tasks in the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle), under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron, the priest.”

Then the priest shall have her take an oath and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness [while married], then be immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse;

and this water that brings a curse shall go into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh waste away.” And the woman shall say, “Amen. Amen (so let it be).”

‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife goes astray [while married] and defiles herself,

or when a spirit (sense, attitude) of jealousy and suspicion comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest shall apply this law to her.

‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation and dedication are fulfilled: he shall bring the offering to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle).

“This is the law for the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord for his separation, besides what else he is able to afford, according to the vow which he has vowed; so shall he do according to the law for his separation and abstinence [as a Nazirite].”

“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them:

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab [from the tribe of Judah].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar [from the tribe of Issachar].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon [from the tribe of Zebulun].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur [from the tribe of Reuben].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai [from the tribe of Simeon].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel [from the tribe of Gad].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud [from the tribe of Ephraim].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur [from the tribe of Manasseh].

and as the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni [from the tribe of Benjamin].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai [from the tribe of Dan].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ochran [from the tribe of Asher].

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan [from the tribe of Naphtali].

This was the dedication offering for the altar from the leaders of Israel on the day when it was anointed: twelve dishes of silver, twelve silver basins, twelve golden bowls;

and all the oxen for the sacrifice of the peace offerings were twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs one year old sixty. This was the dedication for the altar [of burnt offering] after it was anointed.

Now this was the workmanship of the lampstand: hammered work of gold; from its base to its flowers it was hammered work; according to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.