The Israelites at Mount Sinai

^1-2The people of Israel left Rephidim, and on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai,

³and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and told him to say to the Israelites, Jacob's descendants:

⁴“You saw what I, the Lord, did to the Egyptians and how I carried you as an eagle carries her young on her wings, and brought you here to me.

⁵Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,

⁶a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests.”

⁷So Moses went down and called the leaders of the people together and told them everything that the Lord had commanded him.

⁸Then all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the Lord has said,” and Moses reported this to the Lord.

⁹The Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on.” Moses told the Lord what the people had answered,

¹⁰and the Lord said to him, “Go to the people and tell them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves for worship. They must wash their clothes

¹¹and be ready the day after tomorrow. On that day I will come down on Mount Sinai, where all the people can see me.

¹²Mark a boundary around the mountain that the people must not cross, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even get near it. If any of you set foot on it, you are to be put to death;

¹³you must either be stoned or shot with arrows, without anyone touching you. This applies to both people and animals; they must be put to death. But when the trumpet is blown, then the people are to go up to the mountain.”

¹⁴Then Moses came down the mountain and told the people to get ready for worship. So they washed their clothes,

¹⁵and Moses told them, “Be ready by the day after tomorrow and don't have sexual intercourse in the meantime.”

¹⁶On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud appeared on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled with fear.

¹⁷Moses led them out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord had come down on it in fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and all the people trembled violently.

¹⁹The sound of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder.

²⁰The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up

²¹and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to cross the boundary to come and look at me; if they do, many of them will die.

²²Even the priests who come near me must purify themselves, or I will punish them.”

²³Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up, because you commanded us to consider the mountain sacred and to mark a boundary around it.”

²⁴The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron back with you. But the priests and the people must not cross the boundary to come up to me, or I will punish them.”

²⁵Moses then went down to the people and told them what the Lord had said.

The Ten Commandments

¹God spoke, and these were his words:

²“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.

³“Worship no god but me.

⁴“Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth.

⁵Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.

⁶But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws.

⁷“Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the Lord your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.

⁸“Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy.

⁹You have six days in which to do your work,

¹⁰but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work—neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country.

¹¹In six days I, the Lord, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the Lord, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.

¹²“Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.

¹³“Do not commit murder.

¹⁴“Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵“Do not steal.

¹⁶“Do not accuse anyone falsely.

¹⁷“Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns.”

The People's Fear

¹⁸When the people heard the thunder and the trumpet blast and saw the lightning and the smoking mountain, they trembled with fear and stood a long way off.

¹⁹They said to Moses, “If you speak to us, we will listen; but we are afraid that if God speaks to us, we will die.”

²⁰Moses replied, “Don't be afraid; God has only come to test you and make you keep on obeying him, so that you will not sin.”

²¹But the people continued to stand a long way off, and only Moses went near the dark cloud where God was.

Laws about Altars

²²The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites: “You have seen how I, the Lord, have spoken to you from heaven.

²³Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gold to be worshiped in addition to me.

²⁴Make an altar of earth for me, and on it sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as fellowship offerings. In every place that I set aside for you to worship me, I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stones, because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for my use.

²⁶Do not build an altar for me with steps leading up to it; if you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps.

Laws concerning Skin Diseases

¹The Lord gave Moses and Aaron these regulations.

²If any of you have a sore on your skin or a boil or an inflammation which could develop into a dreaded skin disease, you shall be brought to the Aaronite priest.

³The priest shall examine the sore, and if the hairs in it have turned white and the sore appears to be deeper than the surrounding skin, it is a dreaded skin disease, and the priest shall pronounce you unclean.

⁴But if the sore is white and does not appear to be deeper than the skin around it and the hairs have not turned white, the priest shall isolate you for seven days.

⁵The priest shall examine you again on the seventh day, and if in his opinion the sore looks the same and has not spread, he shall isolate you for another seven days.

⁶The priest shall examine you again on the seventh day, and if the sore has faded and has not spread, he shall pronounce you ritually clean; it is only a sore. You shall wash your clothes and be ritually clean.

⁷But if the sore spreads after the priest has examined you and pronounced you clean, you must appear before the priest again.

⁸The priest will examine you again, and if it has spread, he shall pronounce you unclean; it is a dreaded skin disease.

⁹If any of you have a dreaded skin disease, you shall be brought to the priest,

¹⁰who will examine you. If there is a white sore on your skin which turns the hairs white and is full of pus,

¹¹it is a chronic skin disease. The priest shall pronounce you unclean; there is no need to isolate you, because you are obviously unclean.

¹²If the skin disease spreads and covers you from head to foot,

¹³the priest shall examine you again. If he finds that it actually has covered the whole body, he shall pronounce you ritually clean. If your whole skin has turned white, you are ritually clean.

¹⁴But from the moment an open sore appears, you are unclean.

¹⁵The priest shall examine you again, and if he sees an open sore, he shall pronounce you unclean. An open sore means a dreaded skin disease, and you are unclean.

¹⁶But when the sore heals and becomes white again, you shall go to the priest,

¹⁷who will examine you again. If the sore has turned white, you are ritually clean, and the priest shall pronounce you clean.

¹⁸If any of you have a boil that has healed

¹⁹and if afterward a white swelling or a reddish-white spot appears where the boil was, you shall go to the priest.

²⁰The priest shall examine you, and if the spot seems to be deeper than the surrounding skin and the hairs in it have turned white, he shall pronounce you unclean. It is a dreaded skin disease that has started in the boil.

²¹But if the priest examines it and finds that the hairs in it have not turned white and that it is not deeper than the surrounding skin, but is light in color, the priest shall isolate you for seven days.

²²If the spot spreads, the priest shall pronounce you unclean; you are diseased.

²³But if it remains unchanged and does not spread, it is only the scar left from the boil, and the priest shall pronounce you ritually clean.

²⁴In case any of you have been burned, if the raw flesh becomes white or reddish-white,

²⁵the priest shall examine you. If the hairs in the spot have turned white and it appears deeper than the surrounding skin, it is a dreaded skin disease that has started in the burn, and the priest shall pronounce you unclean.

²⁶But if the hairs in it have not turned white and it is not deeper than the surrounding skin, but is light in color, the priest shall isolate you for seven days.

²⁷The priest shall examine you again on the seventh day, and if it is spreading, it is a dreaded skin disease, and the priest shall pronounce you unclean.

²⁸But if the spot remains unchanged and does not spread and is light in color, it is not a dreaded skin disease. The priest shall pronounce you ritually clean, because it is only a scar from the burn.

²⁹When any of you, male or female, have a sore on your head or chin,

³⁰the priest shall examine it. If it seems to be deeper than the surrounding skin and the hairs in it are yellowish and thin, it is a dreaded skin disease, and he shall pronounce you unclean.

³¹If, when the priest examines you, the sore does not appear to be deeper than the surrounding skin, but there are still no healthy hairs in it, he shall isolate you for seven days.

³²The priest shall examine the sore again on the seventh day, and if it has not spread and there are no yellowish hairs in it and it does not seem to be deeper than the surrounding skin,

³³you shall shave the head except the area around the sore. The priest shall then isolate you for another seven days.

³⁴On the seventh day the priest shall again examine the sore, and if it has not spread and does not seem to be deeper than the surrounding skin, he shall pronounce you ritually clean. You shall wash your clothes, and you will be clean.

³⁵But if the sore spreads after you have been pronounced clean,

³⁶the priest shall examine you again. If the sore has spread, he need not look for yellowish hairs; you are obviously unclean.

³⁷But if in the priest's opinion the sore has not spread and healthy hairs are growing in it, the sore has healed, and the priest shall pronounce you ritually clean.

³⁸When any of you, male or female, have white spots on the skin,

³⁹the priest shall examine you. If the spots are dull white, it is only a blemish that has broken out on the skin; you are ritually clean.

^40-41If you lose your hair at the back or the front of your head, this does not make you unclean.

⁴²But if a reddish-white sore appears on the bald spot, it is a dreaded skin disease.

⁴³The priest shall examine you, and if there is a reddish-white sore,

⁴⁴the priest shall pronounce you unclean, because of the dreaded skin disease on your head.

⁴⁵If you have a dreaded skin disease, you must wear torn clothes, leave your hair uncombed, cover the lower part of your face, and call out, “Unclean, unclean!”

⁴⁶You remain unclean as long as you have the disease, and you must live outside the camp, away from others.

Laws concerning Mildew

⁴⁷When there is mildew on clothing, whether wool or linen,

⁴⁸or on any piece of linen or wool cloth or on leather or anything made of leather,

⁴⁹if it is greenish or reddish, it is a spreading mildew and must be shown to the priest.

⁵⁰The priest shall examine it and put the object away for seven days.

⁵¹He shall examine it again on the seventh day, and if the mildew has spread, the object is unclean.

⁵²The priest shall burn it, because it is a spreading mildew which must be destroyed by fire.

⁵³But if, when he examines it, the priest finds that the mildew has not spread on the object,

⁵⁴he shall order that it be washed and put away for another seven days.

⁵⁵Then he shall examine it, and if the mildew has not changed color, even though it has not spread, it is still unclean; you must burn the object, whether the rot is on the front or the back.

⁵⁶But if, when the priest examines it again, the mildew has faded, he shall tear it out of the clothing or leather.

⁵⁷Then, if the mildew reappears, it is spreading again, and the owner shall burn the object.

⁵⁸If he washes the object and the spot disappears, he shall wash it again, and it will be ritually clean.

⁵⁹This, then, is the law about mildew on clothing, whether it is wool or linen, or on linen or wool cloth or on anything made of leather; this is how the decision is made as to whether it is ritually clean or unclean.

A Prayer for National Deliverance

¹Why have you abandoned us like this, O God? Will you be angry with your own people forever?

²Remember your people, whom you chose for yourself long ago, whom you brought out of slavery to be your own tribe. Remember Mount Zion, where once you lived.

³Walk over these total ruins; our enemies have destroyed everything in the Temple.

⁴Your enemies have shouted in triumph in your Temple; they have placed their flags there as signs of victory.

⁵They looked like woodsmen cutting down trees with their axes.

⁶They smashed all the wooden panels with their axes and sledge hammers.

⁷They wrecked your Temple and set it on fire; they desecrated the place where you are worshiped.

⁸They wanted to crush us completely; they burned down every holy place in the land.

⁹All our sacred symbols are gone; there are no prophets left, and no one knows how long this will last.

¹⁰How long, O God, will our enemies laugh at you? Will they insult your name forever?

¹¹Why have you refused to help us? Why do you keep your hands behind you?

¹²But you have been our king from the beginning, O God; you have saved us many times.

¹³With your mighty strength you divided the sea and smashed the heads of the sea monsters;

¹⁴you crushed the heads of the monster Leviathan and fed his body to desert animals.

¹⁵You made springs and fountains flow; you dried up large rivers.

¹⁶You created the day and the night; you set the sun and the moon in their places;

¹⁷you set the limits of the earth; you made summer and winter.

¹⁸But remember, O Lord, that your enemies laugh at you, that they are godless and despise you.

¹⁹Don't abandon your helpless people to their cruel enemies; don't forget your persecuted people!

²⁰Remember the covenant you made with us. There is violence in every dark corner of the land.

²¹Don't let the oppressed be put to shame; let those poor and needy people praise you.

²²Rouse yourself, God, and defend your cause! Remember that godless people laugh at you all day long.

²³Don't forget the angry shouts of your enemies, the continuous noise made by your foes.