Reading 27/341, Exodus 39-Leviticus 1

Today we end Exodus and begin Leviticus. Leviticus is primarily moral laws and specific instructions on how to sacrifice animals.

...Exodus

Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the Lord commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, in the purple, in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skillful workman. They made shoulder straps for it, joined together. At the two ends it was joined together. The skillfully woven band that was on it, with which to fasten it on, was of the same piece, like its work; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the Lord commanded Moses. They worked the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold, engraved with the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the children of Israel. He put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.

He made the breastplate, the work of a skillful workman, like the work of the ephod; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. It was square. They made the breastplate double. Its length was a span, and its width a span, being double. They set in it four rows of stones. A row of ruby, topaz, and beryl was the first row, and the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and an emerald, and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst, and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in gold settings. The stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name, for the twelve tribes. They made on the breastplate chains like cords, braided work of pure gold. They made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. They put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. The other two ends of the two braided chains they put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod, in the front of it. They made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which was toward the side of the ephod inward. They made two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder straps of the ephod underneath, in the front of it, close by its coupling, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. They bound the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not come loose from the ephod, as the Lord commanded Moses.

He made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. The opening of the robe in the midst of it was like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding around its opening, that it should not be torn. They made on the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, purple, scarlet, and twined linen. They made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates around the skirts of the robe, between the pomegranates; a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, around the skirts of the robe, to minister in, as the Lord commanded Moses. They made the coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, and the turban of fine linen, and the linen headbands of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen, and the sash of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as the Lord commanded Moses. They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it a writing, like the engravings of a signet: "HOLY TO THE LORD". They tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it on the turban above, as the Lord commanded Moses. Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished. The children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; so they did.

They brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent, with all its furniture, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, the covering of rams' skins dyed red, the covering of fine leather, the veil of the screen, the ark of the covenant with its poles, the mercy seat, the table, all its vessels, the bread of the Presence, the pure lampstand, its lamps, even the lamps to be set in order, all its vessels, the oil for the light, the golden altar, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, the screen for the door of the tent, the bronze altar, its grating of bronze, its poles, all of its vessels, the basin and its base, the hangings of the court, its pillars, its sockets, the screen for the gate of the court, its cords, its pins, all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting, the finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it, and Moses blessed them.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. You shall put the ark of the covenant in it, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. You shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it. You shall bring in the lampstand, and light the lamps of it. You shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. You shall set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and shall put water therein. You shall set up the court around it, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court. You shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is in it, and shall make it holy, and all its furniture: and it will be holy. You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar will be Most Holy. You shall anoint the basin and its base, and sanctify it. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water. You shall put on Aaron the holy garments, and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest's office. You shall bring his sons, and put coats on them. You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations."

Moses did so. According to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did. It happened in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up. Moses raised up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards of it, and put in the bars of it, and raised up its pillars. He spread the covering over the tabernacle, and put the roof of the tent above it, as the Lord commanded Moses. He took and put the covenant into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark. He brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the covenant, as the Lord commanded Moses. He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside of the veil. He set the bread in order on it before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. He lit the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, and he burnt incense of sweet spices on it, as the Lord commanded Moses. He put up the screen of the door to the tabernacle. He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as the Lord commanded Moses. He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, with which to wash. Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet there. When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed, as the Lord commanded Moses. He raised up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and the Lord's glory filled the tabernacle. When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not travel until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

Leviticus...

The Lord called Moses, and spoke to him out of the tent of meeting, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When anyone of you offers an offering to the Lord, you shall offer your offering of the livestock, from the herd or from the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. He shall kill the bull before the Lord. Aaron's sons, the priests, shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the door of the Tent of Meeting. He shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire, and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar; but its innards and its legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall burn the whole on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to the Lord.

If his offering is from the flock, from the sheep, or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord. Aaron's sons, the priests, shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. He shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat. The priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar, but the innards and the legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall offer the whole, and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to the Lord.

If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall offer his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. The priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar, and its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar, and he shall take away its crop with its filth, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes. He shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it apart. The priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to the Lord.’”

Reading 26/341, Exodus 36-38

[A] If you skim the very specific information about what is being built you might miss the line about the "mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the tent of meeting." Who were these women? It is possible that they were prostitutes, as this is what "ministering women" meant in ancient cultures, and these women do have mirrors, which not every woman would have had in this culture. If this is the case, it is significant that even they have made their contribution to the temple. Or they might have been the very pious women of the community who often prayed at the tent of meeting. They have given up their mirrors as a personal sacrifice to the Lord. No one knows for sure since they are not mentioned anywhere else.
[B] At the end we see that the money which was donated for the census, a sort of ransom that each man paid for his soul, was melted down and used in the building of the Tabernacle. So, in a sense, the Tabernacle is built out of the life of all the people.

...Exodus...

"Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord has commanded." Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it, and they received from Moses all the offerings which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They brought to him freewill offerings every morning. All the wise men, who performed all the work of the sanctuary, each came from the work he did and spoke to Moses, saying, "The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make." Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman make any other offering for the sanctuary." So the people were restrained from bringing. For the things they had were sufficient to make all the items, were even too much.

All the wise-hearted men among those who did the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of skillful workman they made them. The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had one measure. He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled one to another. He made loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling. Likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second coupling. He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling. The loops were opposite one another. He made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps, so the tabernacle was all one. He made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made them eleven curtains. The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain. The eleven curtains had one measure. He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. He made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the coupling, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which was outermost in the second coupling. He made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together, that it might be a unit. He made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of fine leather above.

He made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up. Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board. Each board had two tenons, joined one to another. He made all the boards of the tabernacle this way. He made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward. He made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards, and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. For the far part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. He made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far part. They were double beneath, and in like manner they were all the way to the top of it to one ring. He did thus to both of them in the two corners. There were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every board two sockets. He made bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the rear westward. He made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other. He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman. He made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold. He cast four sockets of silver for them. He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer, and the five pillars of it with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold, and their five sockets were of bronze.

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half cubits, and its breadth a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height. He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold for it round about. He cast four rings of gold for it, in its four feet; even two rings on its one side, and two rings on its other side. He made poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. He made a mercy seat of pure gold. Its length was two and a half cubits, and a cubit and a half its width. He made two cherubim of gold. He made them of beaten work, at the two ends of the mercy seat; one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. He made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends. The cherubim spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.

He made the table of acacia wood. Its length was two cubits, and its width was a cubit, and its height was a cubit and a half. He overlaid it with pure gold, and made a gold molding around it. He made a border of a handbreadth around it, and made a golden molding on its border around it. He cast four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that were on its four feet. The rings were close by the border, the places for the poles to carry the table. He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table. He made the vessels which were on the table, its dishes, its spoons, its bowls, and its pitchers with which to pour, of pure gold.

He made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of beaten work. Its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers were of one piece with it. There were six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of its one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side: three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower, and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower: so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. In the lampstand were four cups made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of it. Their buds and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole thing was one beaten work of pure gold. He made its seven lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuff dishes, of pure gold. He made it of a talent of pure gold, with all its vessels.

He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. It was square: its length was a cubit, and its width a cubit. Its height was two cubits. Its horns were of one piece with it. He overlaid it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns. He made a gold molding around it. He made two golden rings for it under its molding crown, on its two ribs, on its two sides, as places to put poles with which to carry it. He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. He made the holy anointing oil and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer.

He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. It was square. Its length was five cubits, its width was five cubits, and its height was three cubits. He made its horns on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. He made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its vessels of bronze. He made for the altar a grating of a network of bronze, under the ledge around it beneath, reaching halfway up. He cast four rings for the four ends of bronze grating, to be places for the poles. He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze. He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made it hollow with planks. He made the basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, out of the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the tent of meeting.

He made the court: for the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, one hundred cubits; their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. For the north side one hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. For the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. For the east side fifty cubits. The hangings for the one side were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three, and so for the other side: on the left and the right by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen. The sockets for the pillars were of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, of silver, and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. The screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. Twenty cubits was the length, and the height was five cubits, in width it was like the hangings of the court. Their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of bronze; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their fillets, of silver. All the pegs of the tabernacle, and around the court, were of bronze.

This is the amount of material used for the tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Covenant, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses. With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen. All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents, and seven hundred thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. The silver of those who were numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents, and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who crossed over to the side of the numbered, from twenty years old and upward, six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men. The one hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; one hundred sockets for the one hundred talents, a talent for a socket. Of the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them. The bronze of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand four hundred shekels. With this he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, all the vessels of the altar, the sockets around the court, the sockets of the gate of the court, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.

Reading 25/341, Exodus 33-35

After the disaster of yesterday's reading, the Lord threatens to abandon Israel. Instead they reconcile with him through the intercession of Moses and begin again.

...Exodus...

The Lord spoke to Moses, "Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your seed.' I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up in the midst of you, lest I consume you in the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." When the people heard this evil news, they mourned, and no one put on their jewelry. The Lord said to Moses, "Tell the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up in your midst for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry, that I may know what to do to you.'" The children of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it "The tent of meeting." It happened that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. It happened that when Moses went out to the Tent all the people rose up and stood at their tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the Tent. It happened, when Moses entered into the Tent, that the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and spoke with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped at their tent door. The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses returned again to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart out of the Tent.

Moses said to the Lord, "Behold, you tell me, 'Bring up this people', but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your ways now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight. And consider that this nation as your people." He said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." He said to him, "If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here. For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not because you go with us, so that we are separate, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?" The Lord said to Moses, "I will do this thing also that you have said, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."

Moses said, "Please show me your glory." He said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." He said, "You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live. The Lord also said, "Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face shall not be seen.

The Lord said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you; nor let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; nor let the flocks nor the herds feed by that mountain." He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two stone tablets. The Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The Lord! The Lord! A merciful and gracious God! Slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and truth! Keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin, but will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation!" Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. He said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."

The Lord said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation, and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you, but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim; for you shall worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods. You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.”

“You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. All that opens the womb is mine, and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep. The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me emptyhanded. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year's end. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, nor shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before the Lord, your God, three times in the year. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning. You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid goat in its mother's milk.”

The Lord said to Moses, "Write these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." He was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand as he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him. When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out, and he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what he was commanded. The children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them, "These are the words which the Lord has commanded, that you should do them. 'Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord: whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.'" Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, 'Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the Lord's offering: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, fine leather, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. Let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that the Lord has commanded, the tent, its outer covering, its roof, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the ark, and its poles, the mercy seat, the veil of the screen; the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the show bread; the lampstand also for the light, with its vessels, its lamps, and the oil for the light, and the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, the screen for the door, at the door of the tent; the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, it poles, and all its vessels, the basin and its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; the pins of the tent, the pins of the court, and their cords; the finely worked garments, for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office.'"

All the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. They came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all of its service, and for the holy garments. They came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, earrings, signet rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; everyone who could offered an offering of gold to the Lord. Everyone, with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and fine leather, brought them. Everyone who could offer an offering of silver and bronze brought the Lord's offering, and everyone, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun, the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. All the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats' hair. The rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastplate, and the spice, and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by Moses. Moses said to the children of Israel, "Behold, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to make skillful works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of skillful workmanship. He has put in his heart the ability to teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, of the skillful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any workmanship, and of those who make skillful works.

Reading 24/341, Exodus 30-32

[A] The dangers of taking a census should be noted. It will be a theme later. There was a great superstition against counting people in this and other ancient cultures.
[B] The second half is one of the plot sections. There is a great line where the Lord is speaking to Moses and announces that the people have turned to sin. He says, "Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!" They were God's people, but when they are naughty they are Moses'.
[C] At that point Moses prays to the Lord to not destroy the people. This is a parallel to Abraham's prayer for Sodom. It is interesting how much religion has developed in 500 years: Moses' prayer is much better and is actually effective.
[D] We had the 10 Commandments in reading 21, but the physical stones are here. Note how the popular image of them is different than the actual description: written on both sides, small enough to be carried and thrown by an old man.
[E] At the end, Aaron lies, Moses has people killed in the name of the Lord. When he was with the Lord, he asked for forgiveness for them. Now he punishes them himself, saying that the Lord has commanded, but we do not see the Lord making any such command.

...Exodus...

“You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood. Its length shall be a cubit, and its breadth a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with pure gold, the top of it, and the sides of it all around, and its horns, and you shall make a gold molding around it. You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them, and they shall be places for poles with which to bear it. You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the covenant, before the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you. Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering, and you shall pour no drink offering on it. Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once during the year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once during the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, each man shall give a ransom for his soul to the Lord, when you number them, so that there will not be a plague among them when you number them. As each one crosses over to be with the numbered ones, they shall give half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel for an offering to the Lord. Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of the Lord, to make atonement for your souls. You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting, so that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for your souls.”

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “You shall also make a basin of bronze, the base of it also of bronze, in which to wash. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it. When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they do not die, and also when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die, and it shall be a statute forever to them, to him and to his descendants throughout their generations.”

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty, and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume blended according to the craft of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil. You shall use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant, the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base. You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on man's flesh, nor shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.'”

The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each there shall be an equal weight, and you shall make incense of it, a perfume according to the craft of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy: and you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the covenant in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy. The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for the Lord. Whoever shall make any like it, to smell like it, shall be cut off from his people.”

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. Behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and in the heart of all who are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat that is on it, all the furniture of the tent, the table and its vessels, the pure lampstand with all its vessels, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, the basin and its base, the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, the garments of his sons to minister in the priest's office, the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, 'Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'”

He gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God's finger. When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me." All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf, and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord." They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

The Lord spoke to Moses, "Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'" The Lord said to Moses, "I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, that I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation." Moses begged the Lord his God, and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'He brought them forth for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?' Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.'" The Lord repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.

Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, tablets that were written on both their sides, on the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is the noise of war in the camp." But he replied, "It is not the voice of those who shout for victory, nor is it the voice of those who cry for defeat, but the noise of those who sing that I hear." It happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them beneath the mountain. He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

Moses said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?" Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them take it off' so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire and out came this calf." When Moses saw that the people had broken loose, (for Aaron had let them break loose to the derision of their enemies), Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me!" All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. He said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'" The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, every man at the cost of his son and his brother, that he may bestow on you a blessing this day."

It happened on the next day that Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "O these people have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold, yet now, if you will, forgive their sin, and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written. The Lord said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." The Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

Reading 23/341, Exodus 27-29

[A] Today they build the altar and ordain Aaron and his sons as the priests of Israel.
[B] More measurements today. A span is from the thumb to the pinky. An ephah is about 10 gallons. A hin is about a gallon and a half.

...Exodus...

"You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide; the altar shall be foursquare: and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. You shall make pots to take away its ashes, and shovels, basins, forks, and fire pans: all its vessels you shall make of bronze. You shall make a grating for it, a net of bronze: and on the net you shall make four bronze rings in its four corners. You shall put it under the ledge around the altar beneath, that the net may reach halfway up the altar. You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. Its poles shall be put into the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when carrying it. Hollow with planks shall you make it: as it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.”

"You shall make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen one hundred cubits long for one side: and the pillars of it shall be twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. Likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and the pillars of it twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. For the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. The breadth of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits. The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. For the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. For the gate of the court there shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their sockets four. All the pillars of the court round about shall be filleted with silver; their hooks of silver, and their sockets of bronze. The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and the width fifty everywhere, and the height five cubits, of fine twined linen, and their sockets of bronze. All the instruments of the tabernacle in all its service, and all the pins of it, and all the pins of the court, shall be of bronze.”

"You shall command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the covenant, Aaron and his sons shall keep it going from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.”

"Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest's office, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest's office. These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest's office. They shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen. They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman. It shall have two shoulder straps joined to the two ends of it, that it may be joined together. The skillfully woven band, which is on it, that is on him, shall be like its work and of the same piece; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel: six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the other six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shall you engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of Israel: you shall make them to be enclosed in settings of gold. You shall put the two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for a memorial. You shall make settings of gold, and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them like cords of braided work: and you shall put the braided chains on the settings.”

“You shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, shall you make it. It shall be square and folded double; a span shall be its length of it, and a span its width. You shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of ruby, topaz, and beryl shall be the first row, and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, and an emerald, and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst, and the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be enclosed in gold in their settings. The stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes. You shall make on the breastplate chains like cords, of braided work of pure gold. You shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. You shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. The other two ends of the two braided chains you shall put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the forepart of it. You shall make two rings of gold, and you shall put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which is toward the side of the ephod inward. You shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two shoulder straps of the ephod underneath, in the forepart of it, close by the coupling of it, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. They shall bind the breastplate by the rings of it to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not swing out from the ephod. Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the Lord: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before the Lord continually.”

"You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. It shall have a hole for the head in the middle of it: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, so that it will not be torn. On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, around its hem, and bells of gold between them round about: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe round about. It shall be on Aaron to minister: and the sound of it shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, so that he will not die.”

“You shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, 'HOLY TO THE LORD.' You shall put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be on the sash; on the front of the sash it shall be. It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear the guilt of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall make holy in all their holy gifts, and it shall be always on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of the embroiderer. You shall make coats for Aaron's sons, and you shall make sashes for them and headbands shall you make for them, for glory and for beauty. You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. You shall make them linen pants to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the waist even to the thighs they shall reach: They shall be on Aaron, and on his sons, when they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place; that they do not bear iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.”

"This is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to me in the priest's office: take one young bull and two rams without blemish, unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil: you shall make them of fine wheat flour. You shall put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water. You shall take the garments, and put the coat on Aaron, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and dress him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him. You shall bring his sons, and put coats on them. You shall dress them with belts, Aaron and his sons, and bind headbands on them: and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute: and you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons. You shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting: and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. You shall kill the bull before the Lord, at the door of the tent of meeting. You shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp: it is a sin offering. You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar. You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its innards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head. You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to the Lord; it is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to the Lord. You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood on the altar round about. You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. Also you shall take some of the ram's fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination), and one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. You shall put all of this in Aaron's hands, and in his sons' hands, and shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. You shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, for a sweet savor before the Lord: it is an offering made by fire to the Lord. You shall take the breast of Aaron's ram of ordination, and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord: and it shall be your portion. You shall sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the thigh of the wave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of ordination, which is for Aaron, and for his sons: and it shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the children of Israel; for it is a wave offering: and it shall be a wave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace offerings: their wave offering to the Lord.”

"The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be ordained in them. Seven days shall the son who is priest in his place put them on, when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place. You shall take the ram of ordination, and boil its flesh in a holy place. Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting. They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate and sanctify them, but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy. If anything of the flesh of the ordination, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. Thus shall you do to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days shall you ordain them. Every day you shall offer the bull of sin offering for atonement: and you shall cleanse the altar, when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it, to sanctify it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar shall be Most Holy; whatever touches the altar shall be holy.”

“Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at evening: and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering. The other lamb you shall offer at evening, and shall do to it according to the meal offering of the morning, and according to its drink offering, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to the Lord. It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you. There I will meet with the children of Israel, and the place shall be sanctified by my glory. I will sanctify the tent of meeting and the altar: Aaron also and his sons I will sanctify, to minister to me in the priest's office. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and be their God. They shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am the Lord their God.”

Reading 22/341, Exodus 23-26

Yesterday I left some old dates in the notes, from a year when we started cover to cover in the fall. The law is not going to last until the end of October but until the end of February.
[A] Many of these readings of the law are going to be a little longer than the average reading. This is because these readings are repetitive and should go more quickly, unless you really try to figure them out.
[B] We are going to see a lot of the cubit. It is about 18 inches, from the elbow to the hand.
[C] The tabernacle, the special tent where God dwells among his people, is a type of Christ. The ark of the covenant, the special box that holds the presence of God, is a type of Mary.

...Exodus...

“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall neither testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice, nor shall you favor a poor man in his cause. If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, do not leave him, you shall surely help him with it. You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked. You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous. You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, seeing you were aliens in the land of Egypt. For six years you shall sow your land and shall gather in its increase, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove. Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed. Be careful to do all things that I have said to you, and do not invoke the name of other gods, nor let them be heard out of your mouth.

You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning. The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid goat in its mother's milk.

Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to his voice. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him. But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. For my angel shall go before you, and bring you to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars. You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst. No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.

I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land. I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

He said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance. Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people go up with him." Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do." Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and be obedient." Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold, this is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.”

Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness. He did not lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, but still ate and drank. The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the tables of stone with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them." Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God's Mountain. He said to the elders, "Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them." Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The appearance of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up on the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, that they take an offering for me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take my offering. This is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, fine leather, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tent, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.

They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Its length shall be two and a half cubits, its breadth a cubit and a half, and its height a cubit and a half. You shall overlay it with pure gold. Inside and outside shall you overlay it, and shall make a gold molding around it. You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them on its four feet. Two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it. You shall put the covenant which I shall give you into the ark.

You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim on its two ends of one piece with the mercy seat. The cherubim shall spread out their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the covenant that I will give you. There I will meet with you, and I will speak to you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the covenant, all that I command you for the children of Israel.

You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth, and one and a half cubits its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. You shall make a rim of a handbreadth around it. You shall make a golden molding on its rim around it. You shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet. The rings shall be close to the rim, for places for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them. You shall make its dishes, its spoons, its ladles, and its bowls to pour out offerings with. Of pure gold shall you make them. You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.

You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. Of hammered work shall the lampstand be made, even its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it. There shall be six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of its one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side; three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower, and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower, so for the six branches going out of the lampstand, and in the lampstand four cups made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lampstand. Their buds and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it one beaten work of pure gold. You shall make its lamps seven, and they shall light its lamps to give light to the space in front of it. Its snuffers and its snuff dishes shall be of pure gold. It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these accessories. See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.

Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman you shall make them. The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains shall have one measure. Five curtains shall be coupled together one to another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. You shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and likewise you shall make in the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that is in the second set. The loops shall be opposite one to another. You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to another with the clasps, and the tabernacle shall be a single unit.

You shall make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains shall you make. The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: the eleven curtains shall have one measure. You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shall double over the sixth curtain in the front of the tent. You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. The overhanging part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. The cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, of what remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. You shall make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of fine leather above.

You shall make the frame for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up. Ten cubits shall be the length of each frame, and one and a half cubits the width of each frame. There shall be two tenons in each frame, joined to one another: thus shall you make for all the frame of the tabernacle. You shall make the frames for the tabernacle, twenty frames for the south side southward. You shall make forty bases of silver under the twenty frames; two sockets under one frame for its two tenons, and two sockets under another frame for its two tenons. For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty frames, and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one frame, and two sockets under another frame. For the far part of the tabernacle westward you shall make six frames. Two frames shall you make for the corners of the tabernacle in the rear. They shall be separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring. Thus shall it be for them both; they shall serve for the two corners. There shall be eight frames, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one frame, and two sockets under another frame. You shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle, for the far part westward. The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall go from end to end. You shall overlay the frames with gold, and make their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold. You shall set up the tabernacle according to the way that it was shown to you on the mountain.

You shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it. You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold; their hooks shall be of gold, on four sockets of silver. You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring the ark of the covenant in there, within the veil, and the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place. You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south, and you shall put the table on the north side. You shall make a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, embroidered needlework. You shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them.

Reading 21/341, Exodus 19-22

Today the Law begins. It will last from now until the end of February. It is usually in this part that people who try to read the Bible give up. If you give up, stop back on March 1st and join us then. The reason that the Law is so difficult is that it no longer applies. To read rule after rule would be hard, but when the rules no longer apply it is very hard. So why do we continue to read this? 1) How can we understand our new covenant if we do not understand the old one? Much of the New Testament is foreshadowed in the laws. 2) Interspersed with the laws the plot does move forward. I am going to prepare a summary of the next month that includes only the plot and none of the laws, for those who want to catch up in October. 3) Because it's there. God said it. Even if it no longer applies, he still said it. Even if the laws seem so insufficiently just, for God is meeting the people halfway to some extent, this was how he met them halfway.

...Exodus...

In the third month after the children of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the desert of Sinai. When they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the desert of Sinai, they encamped in the desert, and there Israel encamped before the mountain. Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, "This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. All the people answered together, and said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever." Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai. You shall set bounds to the people round about, saying, 'Be careful that you do not go up on the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it is animal or man, he shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain."

Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. He said to the people, "Be ready by the third day. Do not have sexual relations with a woman." It happened on the third day, when it was morning, that there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet, and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the lower part of the mountain. Mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because the Lord descended on it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. The Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. The Lord said to Moses, "Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. Let the priests also, who come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth on them." Moses said to the Lord, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you charged us, saying, 'Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it.'" The Lord said to him, "Go down and you shall bring Aaron up with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break forth on them." So Moses went down to the people, and told them.

God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall not do any work on it, you, not your son nor your daughter, your male servant nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your alien who is within your gates, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

All the people perceived the thunder, the lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stayed at a distance. They said to Moses, "Speak with us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die." Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, that his fear may be before you, so that you will not sin." The people stayed at a distance, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. The Lord said to Moses, "This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall most certainly not make alongside of me gods of silver, or gods of gold for yourselves. You shall make an altar of earth for me and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you. If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it. Nor shall you go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed to it.'

“Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them. If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free', then his master shall bring him to God and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do. If she does not please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, seeing as he has dealt deceitfully with her. If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights. If he does not do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.

"One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death, but not if it is unintentional, and God allows it to happen: in that case I will appoint you a place where he shall flee. If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, so that he may die. Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed, if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared, but he shall pay for the loss of his time and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed. If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and they die under his hand, he shall surely be punished. Notwithstanding, if they get up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for they are his money. If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow. But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise. If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. If he strikes out his male servant's tooth, or his female servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake."

If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible. But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him. Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned. If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his. If one man's bull injures another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price, and they shall also divide the dead animal. Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay, bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.

"If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If the thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him. If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt of bloodshed for him; he shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double. If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten, and lets his animal loose, and it grazes in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and from the best of his own vineyard. If fire breaks out, and catches in thorns so that the shocks of grain or the standing grain or the field are consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man delivers to his neighbor money or items to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house; if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to show whether or not he has not put his hand to his neighbor's goods. For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, 'This is mine,' the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor. If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it; the oath of the Lord shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand to his neighbor's goods, and the owner of it shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution. But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it. If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good what was torn. If a man borrows anything of his neighbor's, and it is injured, or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. If the owner of it is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease."

"If a man entices a virgin who is not pledged to be married and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. You shall not allow a sorceress to live. Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death. He who sacrifices to any god, except to the Lord alone, shall be utterly destroyed. You shall not wrong an alien, nor shall you oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child. If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, nor shall you charge him interest. If you take your neighbor's garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin: what would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious. You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people. You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me. You shall do likewise with your oxen and with your sheep. Seven days it shall be with its mother, then on the eighth day you shall give it me. You shall be holy men to me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by animals in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.