The Song of Moses

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, because he has won a glorious victory; he has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea.

²The Lord is my strong defender; he is the one who has saved me. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will sing about his greatness.

³The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

⁴“He threw Egypt's army and its chariots into the sea; the best of its officers were drowned in the Red Sea.

⁵The deep sea covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone.

⁶“Your right hand, Lord, is awesome in power; it breaks the enemy in pieces.

⁷In majestic triumph you overthrow your foes; your anger blazes out and burns them up like straw.

⁸You blew on the sea and the water piled up high; it stood up straight like a wall; the deepest part of the sea became solid.

⁹The enemy said, ‘I will pursue them and catch them; I will divide their wealth and take all I want; I will draw my sword and take all they have.’

¹⁰But one breath from you, Lord, and the Egyptians were drowned; they sank like lead in the terrible water.

¹¹“Lord, who among the gods is like you? Who is like you, wonderful in holiness? Who can work miracles and mighty acts like yours?

¹²You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed our enemies.

¹³Faithful to your promise, you led the people you had rescued; by your strength you guided them to your sacred land.

¹⁴The nations have heard, and they tremble with fear; the Philistines are seized with terror.

¹⁵The leaders of Edom are terrified; Moab's mighty men are trembling; the people of Canaan lose their courage.

¹⁶Terror and dread fall upon them. They see your strength, O Lord, and stand helpless with fear until your people have marched past— the people you set free from slavery.

¹⁷You bring them in and plant them on your mountain, the place that you, Lord, have chosen for your home, the Temple that you yourself have built.

¹⁸You, Lord, will be king forever and ever.”

The Song of Miriam

¹⁹The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. But when the Egyptian chariots with their horses and drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought the water back, and it covered them.

²⁰The prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took her tambourine, and all the women followed her, playing tambourines and dancing.

²¹Miriam sang for them: “Sing to the Lord, because he has won a glorious victory; he has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea.”

Bitter Water

²²Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. For three days they walked through the desert, but found no water.

²³Then they came to a place called Marah, but the water there was so bitter that they could not drink it. That is why it was named Marah.

²⁴The people complained to Moses and asked, “What are we going to drink?”

²⁵Moses prayed earnestly to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood, which he threw into the water; and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord gave them laws to live by, and there he also tested them.

²⁶He said, “If you will obey me completely by doing what I consider right and by keeping my commands, I will not punish you with any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the Lord, the one who heals you.”

²⁷Next they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees; there they camped by the water.

The Manna and the Quails

¹The whole Israelite community set out from Elim, and on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai.

²There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron

³and said to them, “We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.”

⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Now I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions.

⁵On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt.

⁷In the morning you will see the dazzling light of the Lord's presence. He has heard your complaints against him—yes, against him, because we are only carrying out his instructions.”

⁸Then Moses said, “It is the Lord who will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because he has heard how much you have complained against him. When you complain against us, you are really complaining against the Lord.”

⁹Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole community to come and stand before the Lord, because he has heard their complaints.”

¹⁰As Aaron spoke to the whole community, they turned toward the desert, and suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord appeared in a cloud.

¹¹The Lord said to Moses,

¹²“I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat, and in the morning they will have all the bread they want. Then they will know that I, the Lord, am their God.”

¹³In the evening a large flock of quails flew in, enough to cover the camp, and in the morning there was dew all around the camp.

¹⁴When the dew evaporated, there was something thin and flaky on the surface of the desert. It was as delicate as frost.

¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they didn't know what it was and asked each other, “What is it?” Moses said to them, “This is the food that the Lord has given you to eat.

¹⁶The Lord has commanded that each of you is to gather as much of it as he needs, two quarts for each member of his household.”

¹⁷The Israelites did this, some gathering more, others less.

¹⁸When they measured it, those who gathered much did not have too much, and those who gathered less did not have too little. Each had gathered just what he needed.

¹⁹Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it for tomorrow.”

²⁰But some of them did not listen to Moses and saved part of it. The next morning it was full of worms and smelled rotten, and Moses was angry with them.

²¹Every morning each one gathered as much as he needed; and when the sun grew hot, what was left on the ground melted.

²²On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts for each person. All the leaders of the community came and told Moses about it,

²³and he said to them, “The Lord has commanded that tomorrow is a holy day of rest, dedicated to him. Bake today what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Whatever is left should be put aside and kept for tomorrow.”

²⁴As Moses had commanded, they kept what was left until the next day; it did not spoil or get worms in it.

²⁵Moses said, “Eat this today, because today is the Sabbath, a day of rest dedicated to the Lord, and you will not find any food outside the camp.

²⁶You must gather food for six days, but on the seventh day, the day of rest, there will be none.”

²⁷On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather food, but they did not find any.

²⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “How much longer will you people refuse to obey my commands?

²⁹Remember that I, the Lord, have given you a day of rest, and that is why on the sixth day I will always give you enough food for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day and not leave his home.”

³⁰So the people did no work on the seventh day.

³¹The people of Israel called the food manna. It was like a small white seed, and tasted like thin cakes made with honey.

³²Moses said, “The Lord has commanded us to save some manna, to be kept for our descendants, so that they can see the food which he gave us to eat in the desert when he brought us out of Egypt.”

³³Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, put two quarts of manna in it, and place it in the Lord's presence to be kept for our descendants.”

³⁴As the Lord had commanded Moses, Aaron put it in front of the Covenant Box, so that it could be kept.

³⁵The Israelites ate manna for the next forty years, until they reached the land of Canaan, where they settled.

³⁶(The standard dry measure then in use equaled twenty quarts.)

Animals That May Be Eaten

¹The Lord gave Moses and Aaron the following regulations

²for the people of Israel. You may eat any land animal

³that has divided hoofs and that also chews the cud,

^4-6but you must not eat camels, rock badgers, or rabbits. These must be considered unclean; they chew the cud, but do not have divided hoofs.

⁷Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs, but do not chew the cud.

⁸Do not eat these animals or even touch their dead bodies; they are unclean.

⁹You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales,

¹⁰but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales must not be eaten.

¹¹Such creatures must be considered unclean. You must not eat them or even touch their dead bodies.

¹²You must not eat anything that lives in the water and does not have fins and scales.

^13-19You must not eat any of the following birds: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants; hoopoes; or bats.

²⁰All winged insects are unclean,

²¹except those that hop.

²²You may eat locusts, crickets, or grasshoppers.

²³But all other small things that have wings and also crawl must be considered unclean.

^24-28If you touch the dead bodies of the following animals, you will be unclean until evening: all animals with hoofs, unless their hoofs are divided and they chew the cud, and all four-footed animals with paws. If you carry their dead bodies, you must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening.

^29-30Moles, rats, mice, and lizards must be considered unclean.

³¹Whoever touches them or their dead bodies will be unclean until evening.

³²And if their dead bodies fall on anything, it will be unclean. This applies to any article of wood, cloth, leather, or sacking, no matter what it is used for. It shall be dipped in water, but it will remain unclean until evening.

³³And if their bodies fall into a clay pot, everything that is in it shall be unclean, and you must break the pot.

³⁴Any food which could normally be eaten, but on which water from such a pot has been poured, will be unclean, and anything drinkable in such a pot is unclean.

³⁵Anything on which the dead bodies fall is unclean; a clay stove or oven shall be broken,

³⁶but a spring or a cistern remains clean, although anything else that touches their dead bodies is unclean.

³⁷If one of them falls on seed that is going to be planted, the seed remains clean.

³⁸But if the seed is soaking in water and one of them falls on it, the seed is unclean.

³⁹If any animal that may be eaten dies, anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.

⁴⁰And if any of you eat any part of the animal, you must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening; any of you who carry the dead body must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening.

⁴¹You must not eat any of the small animals that move on the ground,

⁴²whether they crawl, or walk on four legs, or have many legs.

⁴³Do not make yourselves unclean by eating any of these.

⁴⁴I am the Lord your God, and you must keep yourselves holy, because I am holy.

⁴⁵I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt so that I could be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy.

⁴⁶This, then, is the law about animals and birds, about everything that lives in the water, and everything that moves on the ground.

⁴⁷You must be careful to distinguish between what is ritually clean and unclean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.

The Prayer of an Elderly Person

¹Lord, I have come to you for protection; never let me be defeated!

²Because you are righteous, help me and rescue me. Listen to me and save me!

³Be my secure shelter and a strong fortress to protect me; you are my refuge and defense.

⁴My God, rescue me from wicked people, from the power of cruel and evil people.

⁵Sovereign Lord, I put my hope in you; I have trusted in you since I was young.

⁶I have relied on you all my life; you have protected me since the day I was born. I will always praise you.

⁷My life has been an example to many, because you have been my strong defender.

⁸All day long I praise you and proclaim your glory.

⁹Do not reject me now that I am old; do not abandon me now that I am feeble.

¹⁰My enemies want to kill me; they talk and plot against me.

¹¹They say, “God has abandoned him; let's go after him and catch him; there is no one to rescue him.”

¹²Don't stay so far away, O God; my God, hurry to my aid!

¹³May those who attack me be defeated and destroyed. May those who try to hurt me be shamed and disgraced.

¹⁴I will always put my hope in you; I will praise you more and more.

¹⁵I will tell of your goodness; all day long I will speak of your salvation, though it is more than I can understand.

¹⁶I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will proclaim your goodness, yours alone.

¹⁷You have taught me ever since I was young, and I still tell of your wonderful acts.

¹⁸Now that I am old and my hair is gray, do not abandon me, O God! Be with me while I proclaim your power and might to all generations to come.

¹⁹Your righteousness, God, reaches the skies. You have done great things; there is no one like you.

²⁰You have sent troubles and suffering on me, but you will restore my strength; you will keep me from the grave.

²¹You will make me greater than ever; you will comfort me again.

²²I will indeed praise you with the harp; I will praise your faithfulness, my God. On my harp I will play hymns to you, the Holy One of Israel.

²³I will shout for joy as I play for you; with my whole being I will sing because you have saved me.

²⁴I will speak of your righteousness all day long, because those who tried to harm me have been defeated and disgraced.