Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?”

You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.

Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.

Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;

and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

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.

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

Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.

Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and consecrate it.’”

“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.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

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.

You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

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.

“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.

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 designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.

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 he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his loss of time, and shall take care of him until he is completely healed.

If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property.

But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,

eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

“If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye.

And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.

If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.

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 a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.

But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

“If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself is consumed, he who started the fire shall surely make restitution.

“If a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, he shall pay double.

For every breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before the judges; he whom the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.

“If a man gives his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep for him, and it dies or is hurt or is driven away while no one is looking,

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 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.

If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the dowry for virgins.

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

for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.

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.

“You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield,

You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.

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.

For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.

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.

I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before 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 wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”

But to the elders he said, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a legal matter, let him approach them.”

The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.

“Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution.

oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,

onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.

You shall cast four gold rings for it and fasten them on its four feet, and two rings shall be on one side of it and two rings on the other side of it.

There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.

You shall make for it a rim of a handbreadth around it; and you shall make a gold border for the rim around it.

You shall make four gold rings for it and put rings on the four corners which are on its four feet.

The rings shall be close to the rim as holders for the poles to carry the table.

Three cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch, a bulb and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bulb and a flower—so for six branches going out from the lampstand;

and in the lampstand four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers.

A bulb shall be under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.

See that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.

The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall have the same measurements.

“Then you shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains in all.

The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains shall have the same measurements.

You shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above.

“Then you shall make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright.

There shall be two tenons for each board, fitted to one another; thus you shall do for all the boards of the tabernacle.

You shall make the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side.

You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards, two sockets under one board for its two tenons and two sockets under another board for its two tenons;

and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards,

For the rear of the tabernacle, to the west, you shall make six boards.

You shall make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the rear.

“Then you shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the boards of one side of the tabernacle,

and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle for the rear side to the west.

You shall overlay the boards with gold and make their rings of gold as holders for the bars; and you shall overlay the bars with gold.

You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, their hooks also being of gold, on four sockets of silver.

You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring in the ark of the testimony there within the veil; and the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies.

“You shall make a screen for the doorway of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver.

You shall make five pillars of acacia for the screen and overlay them with gold, their hooks also being of gold; and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them.

You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze.

You shall make its pails for removing its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze.

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 make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze.

“You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side there shall be hangings for the court of fine twisted linen one hundred cubits long for one side;

Likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and its twenty pillars with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver.

For the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits with their ten pillars and their ten sockets.