Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and His laws. read more.
Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out both yourself and this people with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself. Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him, Teaching them the decrees and laws, showing them the way they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people -- "God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain -- "and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers. And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you will do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to endure [the strain], and all these people also will go to their [tents] in peace. So Moses listened to and heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they decided themselves.

I said to you at that time, I am not able to bear you alone. The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the heavens for multitude. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you as He has promised you! read more.
How can I bear alone the weariness and pressure and burden of you and your strife? Choose wise, understanding, experienced, and respected men according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. And you answered me, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do. So I took the heads of your tribes, wise, experienced, and respected men, and made them heads over you, commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens, and officers according to your tribes.


Next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God. read more.
When they have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and His laws. Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out both yourself and this people with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself. Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him, Teaching them the decrees and laws, showing them the way they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people -- "God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain -- "and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers. And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you will do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to endure [the strain], and all these people also will go to their [tents] in peace. So Moses listened to and heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they decided themselves.

And the Lord said to Moses, Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take of the Spirit which is upon you and will put It upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not have to bear it yourself alone.

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and set them round about the Tent. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him and put It upon the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied [sounding forth the praises of God and declaring His will]. Then they did so no more.

I said to you at that time, I am not able to bear you alone. The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the heavens for multitude. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you as He has promised you! read more.
How can I bear alone the weariness and pressure and burden of you and your strife? Choose wise, understanding, experienced, and respected men according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. And you answered me, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do. So I took the heads of your tribes, wise, experienced, and respected men, and made them heads over you, commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens, and officers according to your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brethren and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger or sojourner who is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment; but you shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.


Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens [from the highest to the lowest judicial levels].

I said to you at that time, I am not able to bear you alone. The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the heavens for multitude. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you as He has promised you! read more.
How can I bear alone the weariness and pressure and burden of you and your strife? Choose wise, understanding, experienced, and respected men according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. And you answered me, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do. So I took the heads of your tribes, wise, experienced, and respected men, and made them heads over you, commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens, and officers according to your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brethren and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger or sojourner who is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment; but you shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.


And the foremen met Moses and Aaron, who were standing in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh. And the foremen said to them, The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made us a rotten stench to be detested by Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to slay us.

But on the next day the entire congregation of the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have caused the death of the people of the Lord.”

Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God. You were peevish and discontented in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, He brought us forth out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. To what are we going up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, The people are bigger and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified to the heavens. And moreover we have seen the [giantlike] sons of the Anakim there.

And the whole congregation of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, And said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Therefore, the people contended with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you find fault with me? Why do you tempt the Lord and try His patience? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?

The people [grew discontented and] grumbled at Moses, saying, “What are we going to drink?”

All the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole congregation said, Would that we had died in Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be a prey. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us choose a captain and return to Egypt.

Now there was no water for the congregation, and they assembled together against Moses and Aaron. And the people contended with Moses, and said, Would that we had died when our brethren died [in the plague] before the Lord! And why have you brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, we and our livestock? read more.
And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of grain or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates. And there is no water to drink.

And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, and the people became impatient (depressed, much discouraged), because [of the trials] of the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and we loathe this light (contemptible, unsubstantial) manna. Then the Lord sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died.

How can I alone bear the weight and pressure and burden of you and your strife (contention) and complaining?


Next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God. read more.
When they have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and His laws. Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out both yourself and this people with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself. Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him, Teaching them the decrees and laws, showing them the way they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people -- "God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain -- "and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers. And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you will do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to endure [the strain], and all these people also will go to their [tents] in peace. So Moses listened to and heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they decided themselves.

And the Lord said to Moses, Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take of the Spirit which is upon you and will put It upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not have to bear it yourself alone. And say to the people, Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. read more.
You shall not eat one day, or two, or five, or ten, or twenty days, But a whole month -- "until [you are satiated and vomit it up violently and] it comes out at your nostrils and is disgusting to you -- "because you have rejected and despised the Lord Who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we come out of Egypt? But Moses said, The people among whom I am are 600,000 footmen [besides all the women and children], and You have said, I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month! Shall flocks and herds be killed to suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be collected to satisfy them? The Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's hand (His ability and power) become short (thwarted and inadequate)? You shall see now whether My word shall come to pass for you or not. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and set them round about the Tent. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him and put It upon the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied [sounding forth the praises of God and declaring His will]. Then they did so no more. But there remained two men in the camp named Eldad and Medad. The Spirit rested upon them, and they were of those who were selected and listed, yet they did not go out to the Tent [as told to do], but they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran to Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying [sounding forth the praises of God and declaring His will] in the camp. Joshua son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, My lord Moses, forbid them! But Moses said to him, Are you envious or jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them! And Moses went back into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

I said to you at that time, I am not able to bear you alone. The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the heavens for multitude. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you as He has promised you! read more.
How can I bear alone the weariness and pressure and burden of you and your strife? Choose wise, understanding, experienced, and respected men according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. And you answered me, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do. So I took the heads of your tribes, wise, experienced, and respected men, and made them heads over you, commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens, and officers according to your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brethren and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger or sojourner who is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment; but you shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.


Now look, you [the tribes of Reuben and Gad] have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel.

and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. Moses said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; must we bring you water out of this rock?”

How can I alone bear the weight and pressure and burden of you and your strife (contention) and complaining?

So Moses and Aaron said to all Israel, At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out from the land of Egypt, And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your murmurings against the Lord. For what are we, that you murmur against us?

And as soon as he came near to the camp he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger blazed hot and he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them? read more.
And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord blaze hot; you know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, Make us gods which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. I said to them, Those who have any gold, let them take it off. So they gave it to me; then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. And when Moses saw that the people were unruly and unrestrained (for Aaron had let them get out of control, so that they were a derision and object of shame among their enemies), Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me. And all the Levites [the priestly tribe] gathered together to him. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Every man put his sword on his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about 3000 men. And Moses said [to the Levites, By your obedience to God's command] you have consecrated yourselves today [as priests] to the Lord, each man [at the cost of being] against his own son and his own brother, that the Lord may restore and bestow His blessing upon you this day. The next day Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.

But Moses said, “Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed?

Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God. You were peevish and discontented in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, He brought us forth out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. To what are we going up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, The people are bigger and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified to the heavens. And moreover we have seen the [giantlike] sons of the Anakim there. read more.
Then I said to you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God Who goes before you, He will fight for you just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, And in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God bore you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet in spite of this word you did not believe (trust, rely on, and remain steadfast to) the Lord your God, Who went in the way before you to search out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day. And the Lord heard your words, and was angered and He swore, Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land which I swore to give to your fathers, Except [Joshua, of course, and] Caleb son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land upon which he has walked, because he has wholly followed the Lord. The Lord was angry with me also for your sakes, and said, You also shall not enter Canaan. But Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover, your little ones whom you said would become a prey, and your children who at this time cannot discern between good and evil, they shall enter Canaan, and to them I will give it and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn and journey into the wilderness by way of the Red Sea. Then you said to me, We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us. And you girded on every man his battle weapons, and thought it a simple matter to go up into the hill country. And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not among you -- "lest you be dangerously hurt by your enemies. So I spoke to you, and you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and were presumptuous and went up into the hill country.

And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. I took the two tables, cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. Then I fell down before the Lord as before, for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate food nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. read more.
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which the Lord held against you, enough to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron, angry enough to have destroyed him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I cast the dust of it into the brook that came down out of the mountain. At Taberah also and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe Him or trust and rely on Him or obey His voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

Moses called to all Israel and said to them, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land; The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. Yet the Lord has not given you a [mind and] heart to understand and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this day.

For I know your rebellion and stubbornness; behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death! Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.

But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and kicked. You became fat, you grew thick, you were gorged and sleek! Then he forsook God Who made him and forsook and despised the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God -- "to gods whom they knew not, to new gods lately come up, whom your fathers never knew or feared. read more.
Of the Rock Who bore you you were unmindful; you forgot the God Who travailed in your birth.


Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten [tribes’] shares in the king, and we have more claim on David than you. Why then did you treat us with contempt and ignore us [by rushing ahead]? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were harsher than those of the men of Israel.

the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek (quarreling), because they quarreled with him.

And there was strife and quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were living in the land at that same time [making grazing of the livestock difficult].

Then a great uproar occurred, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and began to argue heatedly [in Paul’s favor], saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has [really] spoken to him?”

How can I alone bear the weight and pressure and burden of you and your strife (contention) and complaining?


How can I alone bear the weight and pressure and burden of you and your strife (contention) and complaining?


How can I alone bear the weight and pressure and burden of you and your strife (contention) and complaining?