Water from the Rock

¹The whole Israelite community left the desert of Sin, moving from one place to another at the command of the Lord. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there to drink.

²They complained to Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses answered, “Why are you complaining? Why are you putting the Lord to the test?”

³But the people were very thirsty and continued to complain to Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴Moses prayed earnestly to the Lord and said, “What can I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Take some of the leaders of Israel with you, and go on ahead of the people. Take along the stick with which you struck the Nile.

⁶I will stand before you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Moses did so in the presence of the leaders of Israel.

⁷The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites complained and put the Lord to the test when they asked, “Is the Lord with us or not?”

War with the Amalekites

⁸The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

⁹Moses said to Joshua, “Pick out some men to go and fight the Amalekites tomorrow. I will stand on top of the hill holding the stick that God told me to carry.”

¹⁰Joshua did as Moses commanded him and went out to fight the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹As long as Moses held up his arms, the Israelites won, but when he put his arms down, the Amalekites started winning.

¹²When Moses' arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down.

¹³In this way Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites.

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write an account of this victory, so that it will be remembered. Tell Joshua that I will completely destroy the Amalekites.”

¹⁵Moses built an altar and named it “The Lord is my Banner.”

¹⁶He said, “Hold high the banner of the Lord! The Lord will continue to fight against the Amalekites forever!”

Jethro Visits Moses

¹Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and the people of Israel when he led them out of Egypt.

²So he came to Moses, bringing with him Moses' wife Zipporah, who had been left behind,

³and Gershom and Eliezer, her two sons. (Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a strange land”; so he had named one son Gershom.

⁴He had also said, “The God of my father helped me and saved me from being killed by the king of Egypt”; so he had named the other son Eliezer.)

⁵Jethro came with Moses' wife and her two sons into the desert where Moses was camped at the holy mountain.

⁶He had sent word to Moses that they were coming,

⁷so Moses went out to meet him, bowed before him, and kissed him. They asked about each other's health and then went into Moses' tent.

⁸Moses told Jethro everything that the Lord had done to the king and the people of Egypt in order to rescue the Israelites. He also told him about the hardships the people had faced on the way and how the Lord had saved them.

⁹When Jethro heard all this, he was happy

¹⁰and said, “Praise the Lord, who saved you from the king and the people of Egypt! Praise the Lord, who saved his people from slavery!

¹¹Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, because he did this when the Egyptians treated the Israelites with such contempt.”

¹²Then Jethro brought an offering to be burned whole and other sacrifices to be offered to God; and Aaron and all the leaders of Israel went with him to eat the sacred meal as an act of worship.

The Appointment of Judges

¹³The next day Moses was settling disputes among the people, and he was kept busy from morning till night.

¹⁴When Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do, he asked, “What is all this that you are doing for the people? Why are you doing this all alone, with people standing here from morning till night to consult you?”

¹⁵Moses answered, “I must do this because the people come to me to learn God's will.

¹⁶When two people have a dispute, they come to me, and I decide which one of them is right, and I tell them God's commands and laws.”

¹⁷Then Jethro said, “You are not doing this right.

¹⁸You will wear yourself out and these people as well. This is too much for you to do alone.

¹⁹Now let me give you some good advice, and God will be with you. It is right for you to represent the people before God and bring their disputes to him.

²⁰You should teach them God's commands and explain to them how they should live and what they should do.

²¹But in addition, you should choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They must be God-fearing men who can be trusted and who cannot be bribed.

²²Let them serve as judges for the people on a permanent basis. They can bring all the difficult cases to you, but they themselves can decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you, as they share your burden.

²³If you do this, as God commands, you will not wear yourself out, and all these people can go home with their disputes settled.”

²⁴Moses took Jethro's advice

²⁵and chose capable men from among all the Israelites. He appointed them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

²⁶They served as judges for the people on a permanent basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding the smaller disputes themselves.

²⁷Then Moses said good-bye to Jethro, and Jethro went back home.

The Purification of Women after Childbirth

¹The Lord gave Moses the following regulations

²for the people of Israel. For seven days after a woman gives birth to a son, she is ritually unclean, as she is during her monthly period.

³On the eighth day, the child shall be circumcised.

⁴Then it will be thirty-three more days until she is ritually clean from her loss of blood; she must not touch anything that is holy or enter the sacred Tent until the time of her purification is completed.

⁵For fourteen days after a woman gives birth to a daughter, she is ritually unclean, as she is during her monthly period. Then it will be sixty-six more days until she is ritually clean from her loss of blood.

⁶When the time of her purification is completed, whether for a son or daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.

⁷The priest shall present her offering to the Lord and perform the ritual to take away her impurity, and she will be ritually clean. This, then, is what a woman must do after giving birth.

⁸If the woman cannot afford a lamb, she shall bring two doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall perform the ritual to take away her impurity, and she will be ritually clean.

The Justice of God

¹God is indeed good to Israel, to those who have pure hearts.

²But I had nearly lost confidence; my faith was almost gone

³because I was jealous of the proud when I saw that things go well for the wicked.

⁴They do not suffer pain; they are strong and healthy.

⁵They do not suffer as other people do; they do not have the troubles that others have.

⁶And so they wear pride like a necklace and violence like a robe;

⁷their hearts pour out evil, and their minds are busy with wicked schemes.

⁸They laugh at other people and speak of evil things; they are proud and make plans to oppress others.

⁹They speak evil of God in heaven and give arrogant orders to everyone on earth,

¹⁰so that even God's people turn to them and eagerly believe whatever they say.

¹¹They say, “God will not know; the Most High will not find out.”

¹²That is what the wicked are like. They have plenty and are always getting more.

¹³Is it for nothing, then, that I have kept myself pure and have not committed sin?

¹⁴O God, you have made me suffer all day long; every morning you have punished me.

¹⁵If I had said such things, I would not be acting as one of your people.

¹⁶I tried to think this problem through, but it was too difficult for me

¹⁷until I went into your Temple. Then I understood what will happen to the wicked.

¹⁸You will put them in slippery places and make them fall to destruction!

¹⁹They are instantly destroyed; they go down to a horrible end.

²⁰They are like a dream that goes away in the morning; when you rouse yourself, O Lord, they disappear.

²¹When my thoughts were bitter and my feelings were hurt,

²²I was as stupid as an animal; I did not understand you.

²³Yet I always stay close to you, and you hold me by the hand.

²⁴You guide me with your instruction and at the end you will receive me with honor.

²⁵What else do I have in heaven but you? Since I have you, what else could I want on earth?

²⁶My mind and my body may grow weak, but God is my strength; he is all I ever need.

²⁷Those who abandon you will certainly perish; you will destroy those who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸But as for me, how wonderful to be near God, to find protection with the Sovereign Lord and to proclaim all that he has done!