Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



These are the terms of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelis in the land of Moab in addition to the covenant that he made with them in Horeb. Moses called all Israel together and addressed them: "You saw everything that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his whole country. Those great feats that you saw with your own eyes are signs and great wonders. read more.
Yet to this day, the LORD hasn't given you a heart that understands, eyes that perceive, and ears that discern. Though I've led you for 40 years in the desert, neither your clothes nor your shoes have worn out. You didn't have bread to eat or wine or anything intoxicating to drink, so that you would learn that I am the LORD your God. Then you reached this place, where King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan had come out to meet and fight with us, but we defeated them. We captured their land and handed it as an inheritance to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Therefore, keep the terms of this covenant, carrying them out so that you'll be wise in everything you do." "All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God the heads of your tribes, your elders, your magistrates, all the men of Israel, along with your children, your wives, even the foreigner in your camp, including the woodchopper and the water drawer to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God and into the oath that he is about to make with you today, so that he will elevate you to be a people for him. And he will be God to you, just as he promised you and swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, I'm not making this covenant and oath with you alone, but with whoever is here with us standing in the presence of the LORD our God today, as well as with those who aren't here with us today."


Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain: "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and declare to the sons of Israel, "You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. And now if you carefully obey me and keep my covenant, you are to be my special possession out of all the nations, because the whole earth belongs to me, read more.
but you are to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to me.' These are the words you are to declare to the Israelis." When Moses came, he summoned the elders of the people and told them everything that the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together: "We'll do everything that the LORD has said!"

"The LORD your God is commanding you this very day to observe these statutes and judgments. Be careful to obey them with all your heart and soul. You have declared this very day that the LORD will be your God. You are to walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commands, and judgments, and obey his voice. The LORD affirmed this day that you are his prized possession. Therefore, observe his commands, read more.
so he may elevate you far above all the nations that he has made. Then you will live to the praise, fame, and glory of God, and so be a nation that is holy to the LORD your God, as he has promised."

These are the terms of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelis in the land of Moab in addition to the covenant that he made with them in Horeb. Moses called all Israel together and addressed them: "You saw everything that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his whole country. Those great feats that you saw with your own eyes are signs and great wonders. read more.
Yet to this day, the LORD hasn't given you a heart that understands, eyes that perceive, and ears that discern. Though I've led you for 40 years in the desert, neither your clothes nor your shoes have worn out. You didn't have bread to eat or wine or anything intoxicating to drink, so that you would learn that I am the LORD your God. Then you reached this place, where King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan had come out to meet and fight with us, but we defeated them. We captured their land and handed it as an inheritance to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Therefore, keep the terms of this covenant, carrying them out so that you'll be wise in everything you do." "All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God the heads of your tribes, your elders, your magistrates, all the men of Israel, along with your children, your wives, even the foreigner in your camp, including the woodchopper and the water drawer to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God and into the oath that he is about to make with you today, so that he will elevate you to be a people for him. And he will be God to you, just as he promised you and swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Samuel was displeased when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." So Samuel prayed to the LORD. The LORD told Samuel, "Listen to the people in all that they say to you. In fact, it's not you they have rejected, but rather they have rejected me from being their king.


And now, look! You're acting just like your ancestors, like a brood of sinful men, who are provoking the fierce anger of the LORD against the Israelis one step at a time.

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock. "Pay attention, you rebels!" Moses told them. "Are we to bring you water from this rock?"

How can I bear the burden of you and your bickering all by myself?

So Moses and Aaron addressed the entire congregation of the Israelis: "This evening you will know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaints against him. After all, who are we that you complain against us?"

As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the base of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, and ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water and made the Israelis drink it. Then Moses asked Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you brought such great sin upon them?" read more.
Aaron said, "Sir, don't be angry. You know the people that they're intent on evil. They told me, "Make a god for us who will go before us because, as for this fellow Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him.' So I told them, "Whoever has gold ornaments, tear them off.' When they gave it to me, I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." When Moses saw that the people were out of control since Aaron had let them get out of control, something that incited ridicule from their enemies he stood in the gate of the camp and called out: "Whoever is for the LORD come over to me," and all the sons of Levi gathered around him. He told them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, "Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and each of you kill his brother and friend and neighbor.'" The descendants of Levi did just as Moses told them, and about 3,000 people died that day. Moses said, "You have been ordained to serve the LORD today, and you have brought a blessing on yourselves today because every man opposed his son or brother." The next day Moses told the people, "You committed a great sin, and now I'll go up to the LORD, and perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."

But Moses asked them, "Why do you continue to sin against what the LORD said? Don't you know that you can never succeed?

"However, your ancestors didn't go up. Instead, they rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You murmured in your tents, "The LORD hates us. He brought us out of the land of Egypt in order to deliver us to the Amorites so he could destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers discouraged us when they said that the people are bigger and taller than we are. Their cities are tall and fortified to the sky, and we also saw the Anakim there.' read more.
"Then I told you, "Don't be terrified or afraid of them. The LORD your God is the One who will be going ahead of you. He'll fight for you just as he did in Egypt before your eyes. In the desert you saw that the LORD carried you like a man carries his son, on every road you traveled until you reached this place.' But despite this, you didn't trust in the LORD your God, who walked ahead of you along the way to scout a place for you to pitch camp by fire at night and cloud by day to lead you on the way you should go." "When the LORD heard your complaints, he became angry and declared, "I swear that not one man of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors, except Jephunneh's son Caleb. He will see it and I will give to him and to his descendants the land on which he has walked because he wholeheartedly followed the LORD.' "The LORD was also furious with me because of you. He said: "You will not enter the land. However, Nun's son Joshua, your assistant, will go there. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to take possession of it. Your little ones whom you said would be taken captive and your children who do not yet know right from wrong will enter the land. I will give it to them and they themselves will possess it. But as for you, prepare to set out for the desert on the way to the Reed Sea.' "You responded to me and said, "We have sinned against the LORD. We will now go up and fight according to what the LORD our God commanded.' So each man put on his weapon for battle and recklessly started out for the hill country." "Then the LORD told me: "Tell them not to go up and fight because I will not be in their midst, or else you will be defeated before your enemies.' "I spoke to you but you didn't listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of the LORD and went up to the hill country.

Then I saw how you had really sinned against the LORD your God! You had made for yourselves a calf, a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD your God had commanded. So I grabbed the two tablets and then threw them out of my hands, breaking them before your eyes. I fell down in the LORD's presence, just as I had the first 40 days and nights. I did not eat food or drink water because of your sin. You had sinned by committing this evil in the sight of the LORD, thereby provoking him to anger. read more.
I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD against you, because he was irate enough to destroy you. But the LORD also listened to me at that time. It was as had been the case with Aaron, the LORD was very angry and about to destroy him, but I prayed for Aaron at that time. Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain." "You provoked the LORD again at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah. When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea and told you, "Go possess the land that I gave you,' instead you disobeyed what the LORD your God said. You didn't trust him or listen to his voice. You have been rebelling against the LORD since the day I knew you.

Moses called all Israel together and addressed them: "You saw everything that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his whole country. Those great feats that you saw with your own eyes are signs and great wonders. Yet to this day, the LORD hasn't given you a heart that understands, eyes that perceive, and ears that discern.

because indeed I know your rebellion and stubbornness. Note that even while I'm still alive, you've been rebelling against the LORD how much more so after my death! Gather together the leaders of your tribes and your foremen so I can speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and the earth as witnesses against them, because I know that after my death, you'll surely act wickedly and turn from the road that I've instructed you. As a result, evil will fall on you in days to come, because you'll act wickedly in the sight of the LORD, causing him to become angry due to your behavior."

Jacob dined until satisfied; Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He grew fat, coarse, and gross, so that he abandoned the God who made him and spurned the Rock that was his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things. They sacrificed to demons not to the real God gods whom they didn't know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared. read more.
You neglected the Rock that fathered you; you abandoned God, who was awaiting your birth.