Unclean People

¹The Lord said to Moses,

²“Command the people of Israel to expel from the camp everyone with a dreaded skin disease or a bodily discharge and everyone who is unclean by contact with a corpse.

³Send all these ritually unclean people out, so that they will not defile the camp, where I live among my people.”

⁴The Israelites obeyed and expelled them all from the camp.

Repayment for Wrongs Done

⁵The Lord gave Moses

⁶the following instructions for the people of Israel. When any of you are unfaithful to the Lord and commit a wrong against someone,

⁷you must confess your sin and make full repayment, plus an additional 20 percent, to the person you have wronged.

⁸But if that person has died and has no near relative to whom payment can be made, it shall be given to the Lord for the priest. This payment is in addition to the ram used to perform the ritual of purification for the guilty person.

⁹Also every special contribution which the Israelites offer to the Lord belongs to the priest to whom they present it.

¹⁰Each priest shall keep the offerings presented to him.

Cases of Wives with Suspicious Husbands

¹¹The Lord commanded Moses

^12-14to give the Israelites the following instructions. It may happen that a man becomes suspicious that his wife is unfaithful to him and has defiled herself by having intercourse with another man. But the husband may not be certain, for his wife may have kept it secret—there was no witness, and she was not caught in the act. Or it may happen that a husband becomes suspicious of his wife, even though she has not been unfaithful.

¹⁵In either case the man shall take his wife to the priest. He shall also take the required offering of two pounds of barley flour, but he shall not pour any olive oil on it or put any incense on it, because it is an offering from a suspicious husband, made to bring the truth to light.

¹⁶The priest shall bring the woman forward and have her stand in front of the altar.

¹⁷He shall pour some holy water into a clay bowl and take some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tent of the Lord's presence and put it in the water to make it bitter.

¹⁸Then he shall loosen the woman's hair and put the offering of flour in her hands. In his hands the priest shall hold the bowl containing the bitter water that brings a curse.

¹⁹Then the priest shall make the woman agree to this oath spoken by the priest: “If you have not committed adultery, you will not be harmed by the curse that this water brings.

²⁰But if you have committed adultery,

²¹may the Lord make your name a curse among your people. May he cause your genital organs to shrink and your stomach to swell up.

²²May this water enter your stomach and cause it to swell up and your genital organs to shrink.” The woman shall respond, “I agree; may the Lord do so.”

²³Then the priest shall write this curse down and wash the writing off into the bowl of bitter water.

²⁴Before he makes the woman drink the water, which may then cause her bitter pain,

²⁵the priest shall take the offering of flour out of the woman's hands, hold it out in dedication to the Lord, and present it on the altar.

²⁶Then he shall take a handful of it as a token offering and burn it on the altar. Finally, he shall make the woman drink the water.

²⁷If she has committed adultery, the water will cause bitter pain; her stomach will swell up and her genital organs will shrink. Her name will become a curse among her people.

²⁸But if she is innocent, she will not be harmed and will be able to bear children.

^29-30This is the law in cases where a man is jealous and becomes suspicious that his wife has committed adultery. The woman shall be made to stand in front of the altar, and the priest shall perform this ritual.

³¹The husband shall be free of guilt, but the woman, if guilty, must suffer the consequences.

The Ten Commandments

¹Moses called together all the people of Israel and said to them, “People of Israel, listen to all the laws that I am giving you today. Learn them and be sure that you obey them.

²At Mount Sinai the Lord our God made a covenant,

³not only with our fathers, but with all of us who are living today.

⁴There on the mountain the Lord spoke to you face-to-face from the fire.

⁵I stood between you and the Lord at that time to tell you what he said, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain. “The Lord said,

⁶‘I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

⁷“‘Worship no god but me.

⁸“‘Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth.

⁹Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, for 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.

¹⁰But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws.

¹¹“‘Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the Lord your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.

¹²“‘Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy, as I, the Lord your God, have commanded you.

¹³You have six days in which to do your work,

¹⁴but 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. Your slaves must rest just as you do.

¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and that I, the Lord your God, rescued you by my great power and strength. That is why I command you to observe the Sabbath.

¹⁶“‘Respect your father and your mother, as I, the Lord your God, command you, so that all may go well with you and so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.

¹⁷“‘Do not commit murder.

¹⁸“‘Do not commit adultery.

¹⁹“‘Do not steal.

²⁰“‘Do not accuse anyone falsely.

²¹“‘Do not desire another man's wife; do not desire his house, his land, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns.’

²²“These are the commandments the Lord gave to all of you when you were gathered at the mountain. When he spoke with a mighty voice from the fire and from the thick clouds, he gave these commandments and no others. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

The People's Fear

²³“When the whole mountain was on fire and you heard the voice from the darkness, your leaders and the chiefs of your tribes came to me

²⁴and said, ‘The Lord our God showed us his greatness and his glory when we heard him speak from the fire! Today we have seen that it is possible for people to continue to live, even though God has spoken to them.

²⁵But why should we risk death again? That terrible fire will destroy us. We are sure to die if we hear the Lord our God speak again.

²⁶Has any human being ever lived after hearing the living God speak from a fire?

²⁷Go back, Moses, and listen to everything that the Lord our God says. Then return and tell us what he said to you. We will listen and obey.’

²⁸“When the Lord heard this, he said to me, ‘I have heard what these people said, and they are right.

²⁹If only they would always feel this way! If only they would always honor me and obey all my commands, so that everything would go well with them and their descendants forever.

³⁰Go and tell them to return to their tents.

³¹But you, Moses, stay here with me, and I will give you all my laws and commands. Teach them to the people, so that they will obey them in the land that I am giving them.’

³²“People of Israel, be sure that you do everything that the Lord your God has commanded you. Do not disobey any of his laws.

³³Obey them all, so that everything will go well with you and so that you will continue to live in the land that you are going to occupy.

Of God and Human Beings

¹O Lord, you have always been our home.

²Before you created the hills or brought the world into being, you were eternally God, and will be God forever.

³You tell us to return to what we were; you change us back to dust.

⁴A thousand years to you are like one day; they are like yesterday, already gone, like a short hour in the night.

⁵You carry us away like a flood; we last no longer than a dream. We are like weeds that sprout in the morning,

⁶that grow and burst into bloom, then dry up and die in the evening.

⁷We are destroyed by your anger; we are terrified by your fury.

⁸You place our sins before you, our secret sins where you can see them.

⁹Our life is cut short by your anger; it fades away like a whisper.

¹⁰Seventy years is all we have— eighty years, if we are strong; yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow; life is soon over, and we are gone.

¹¹Who has felt the full power of your anger? Who knows what fear your fury can bring?

¹²Teach us how short our life is, so that we may become wise.

¹³How much longer will your anger last? Have pity, O Lord, on your servants!

¹⁴Fill us each morning with your constant love, so that we may sing and be glad all our life.

¹⁵Give us now as much happiness as the sadness you gave us during all our years of misery.

¹⁶Let us, your servants, see your mighty deeds; let our descendants see your glorious might.

¹⁷Lord our God, may your blessings be with us. Give us success in all we do!