Exodus 18-21

Exodus 18

¹Now news came to Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, of all God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, and how the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.

²And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away,

³And her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom, for he said, I have been living in a strange land:

⁴And the name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, The God of my father was my help, and kept me safe from the sword of Pharaoh:

⁵And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to where Moses had put up his tent in the waste land, by the mountain of God.

⁶And he said to Moses, I, your father-in-law, have come to you, with your wife and your two sons.

⁷And Moses went out to his father-in-law, and went down on his face before him and gave him a kiss; and they said to one another, Are you well? and they came into the tent.

⁸And Moses gave his father-in-law an account of all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians because of Israel, and of all the troubles which had come on them by the way, and how the Lord had given them salvation.

⁹And Jethro was glad because the Lord had been good to Israel, freeing them from the power of the Egyptians.

¹⁰And Jethro said, Praise be to the Lord, who has taken you out of the hand of Pharaoh and out of the hand of the Egyptians; freeing the people from the yoke of the Egyptians.

¹¹Now I am certain that the Lord is greater than all gods, for he has overcome them in their pride.

¹²Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, made a burned offering to God: and Aaron came, with the chiefs of Israel, and had a meal with Moses' father-in-law, before God.

¹³Now on the day after, Moses took his seat to give decisions for the people: and the people were waiting before Moses from morning till evening.

¹⁴And when Moses' father-in-law saw all he was doing, he said, What is this you are doing for the people? why are you seated here by yourself, with all the people waiting before you from morning till evening?

¹⁵And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to get directions from God:

¹⁶And if they have any question between themselves, they come to me, and I am judge between a man and his neighbour, and I give them the orders and laws of God.

¹⁷And Moses' father-in-law said to him, What you are doing is not good.

¹⁸Your strength and that of the people will be completely used up: this work is more than you are able to do by yourself.

¹⁹Give ear now to my suggestion, and may God be with you: you are to be the people's representative before God, taking their causes to him:

²⁰Teaching them his rules and his laws, guiding them in the way they have to go, and making clear to them the work they have to do.

²¹But for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of God, true men hating profits wrongly made; and put such men over them, to be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens;

²²And let them be judges in the causes of the people at all times: and let them put before you all important questions, but in small things let them give decisions themselves: in this way, it will be less hard for you, and they will take the weight off you.

²³If you do this, and God gives approval, then you will be able to go on without weariness, and all this people will go to their tents in peace.

²⁴So Moses took note of the words of his father-in-law, and did as he had said.

²⁵And he made selection of able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens.

²⁶And they were judges in the causes of the people at all times: the hard questions they put before Moses; but on every small point they gave decisions themselves.

²⁷And Moses let his father-in-law go away, and he went back to his land.

Exodus 19

¹In the third month after the children of Israel went out from Egypt, on the same day, they came into the waste land of Sinai.

²And when they had gone away from Rephidim and had come into the waste land of Sinai, they put up their tents in the waste land before the mountain: there Israel put up its tents.

³And Moses went up to God, and the voice of the Lord came to him from the mountain, saying, Say to the family of Jacob, and give word to the children of Israel:

⁴You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I took you, as on eagles' wings, guiding you to myself.

⁵If now you will truly give ear to my voice and keep my agreement, you will be my special property out of all the peoples: for all the earth is mine:

⁶And you will be a kingdom of priests to me, and a holy nation. These are the words which you are to say to the children of Israel.

⁷And Moses came and sent for the chiefs of the people and put before them all these words which the Lord had given him orders to say.

⁸And all the people, answering together, said, Whatever the Lord has said we will do. And Moses took back to the Lord the words of the people.

⁹And the Lord said to Moses, See, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that what I say to you may come to the ears of the people and they may have belief in you for ever. And Moses gave the Lord word of what the people had said.

¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and make them holy today and tomorrow, and let their clothing be washed.

¹¹And by the third day let them be ready: for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai, before the eyes of all the people.

¹²And let limits be marked out for the people round the mountain, and say to them, Take care not to go up the mountain or near the sides of it: whoever puts his foot on the mountain will certainly come to his death:

¹³He is not to be touched by a hand, but is to be stoned or have an arrow put through him; man or beast, he is to be put to death: at the long sounding of a horn they may come up to the mountain.

¹⁴Then Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and made the people holy; and their clothing was washed.

¹⁵And he said to the people, Be ready by the third day: do not come near a woman.

¹⁶And when morning came on the third day, there were thunders and flames and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a horn sounding very loud; and all the people in the tents were shaking with fear.

¹⁷And Moses made the people come out of their tents and take their places before God; and they came to the foot of the mountain,

¹⁸And all the mountain of Sinai was smoking, for the Lord had come down on it in fire: and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a great burning; and all the mountain was shaking.

¹⁹And when the sound of the horn became louder and louder, Moses' words were answered by the voice of God.

²⁰Then the Lord came down on to Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, and the Lord sent for Moses to come up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

²¹And the Lord said to Moses, Go down and give the people orders to keep back, for fear that a great number of them, forcing their way through to see the Lord, may come to destruction.

²²And let the priests who come near to the Lord make themselves holy, for fear that the Lord may come on them suddenly.

²³And Moses said to the Lord, The people will not be able to come up the mountain, for you gave us orders to put limits round the mountain, marking it out and making it holy.

²⁴And the Lord said to him, Go down, and you and Aaron may come up; but let not the priests and the people make their way through to the Lord, or he will come on them suddenly.

²⁵So Moses went down to the people and said this to them.

Exodus 20

¹And God said all these words:

²I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house.

³You are to have no other gods but me.

⁴You are not to make an image or picture of anything in heaven or on the earth or in the waters under the earth:

⁵You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship: for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honour to another; and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation of my haters;

⁶And I will have mercy through a thousand generations on those who have love for me and keep my laws.

⁷You are not to make use of the name of the Lord your God for an evil purpose; whoever takes the Lord's name on his lips for an evil purpose will be judged a sinner by the Lord

⁸Keep in memory the Sabbath and let it be a holy day.

⁹On six days do all your work:

¹⁰But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on that day you are to do no work, you or your son or your daughter, your man-servant or your woman-servant, your cattle or the man from a strange country who is living among you:

¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and everything in them, and he took his rest on the seventh day: for this reason the Lord has given his blessing to the seventh day and made it holy.

¹²Give honour to your father and to your mother, so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³Do not put anyone to death without cause.

¹⁴Do not be false to the married relation.

¹⁵Do not take the property of another.

¹⁶Do not give false witness against your neighbour.

¹⁷Let not your desire be turned to your neighbour's house, or his wife or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is his.

¹⁸And all the people were watching the thunderings and the flames and the sound of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when they saw it, they kept far off, shaking with fear.

¹⁹And they said to Moses, To your words we will give ear, but let not the voice of God come to our ears, for fear death may come on us.

²⁰And Moses said to the people, Have no fear: for God has come to put you to the test, so that fearing him you may be kept from sin.

²¹And the people kept their places far off, but Moses went near to the dark cloud where God was.

²²And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You yourselves have seen that my voice has come to you from heaven

²³Gods of silver and gods of gold you are not to make for yourselves.

²⁴Make for me an altar of earth, offering on it your burned offerings and your peace-offerings, your sheep and your oxen: in every place where I have put the memory of my name, I will come to you and give you my blessing.

²⁵And if you make me an altar of stone do not make it of cut stones: for the touch of an instrument will make it unclean.

²⁶And do not go up by steps to my altar, for fear that your bodies may be seen uncovered.

Exodus 21

¹Now these are the laws which you are to put before them.

²If you get a Hebrew servant for money, he is to be your servant for six years, and in the seventh year you are to let him go free without payment.

³If he comes to you by himself, let him go away by himself: if he is married, let his wife go away with him.

⁴If his master gives him a wife, and he gets sons or daughters by her, the wife and her children will be the property of the master, and the servant is to go away by himself.

⁵But if the servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me; I have no desire to be free:

⁶Then his master is to take him to the gods of the house, and at the door, or at its framework, he is to make a hole in his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument; and he will be his servant for ever.

⁷And if a man gives his daughter for a price to be a servant, she is not to go away free as the men-servants do.

⁸If she is not pleasing to her master who has taken her for himself, let a payment be made for her so that she may go free; her master has no power to get a price for her and send her to a strange land, because he has been false to her.

⁹And if he gives her to his son, he is to do everything for her as if she was his daughter.

¹⁰And if he takes another woman, her food and clothing and her married rights are not to be less.

¹¹And if he does not do these three things for her, she has the right to go free without payment.

¹²He who gives a man a death-blow is himself to be put to death.

¹³But if he had no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give you a place to which he may go in flight.

¹⁴But if a man makes an attack on his neighbour on purpose, to put him to death by deceit, you are to take him from my altar and put him to death.

¹⁵Any man who gives a blow to his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death.

¹⁶Any man who gets another into his power in order to get a price for him is to be put to death, if you take him in the act.

¹⁷Any man cursing his father or his mother is to be put to death.

¹⁸If, in a fight, one man gives another a blow with a stone, or with the shut hand, not causing his death, but making him keep in bed;

¹⁹If he is able to get up again and go about with a stick, the other will be let off; only he will have to give him payment for the loss of his time, and see that he is cared for till he is well.

²⁰If a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant blows with a rod, causing death, he is certainly to undergo punishment.

²¹But, at the same time, if the servant goes on living for a day or two, the master is not to get punishment, for the servant is his property.

²²If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, but no other evil comes to her, the man will have to make payment up to the amount fixed by her husband, in agreement with the decision of the judges.

²³But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment for life,

²⁴Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵Burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow.

²⁶If a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant a blow in the eye, causing its destruction, he is to let him go free on account of the damage to his eye.

²⁷Or if the loss of a tooth is caused by his blow, he will let him go free on account of his tooth.

²⁸If an ox comes to be the cause of death to a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned, and its flesh may not be used for food; but the owner will not be judged responsible.

²⁹But if the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and the owner has had word of it and has not kept it under control, so that it has been the cause of the death of a man or woman, not only is the ox to be stoned, but its owner is to be put to death.

³⁰If a price is put on his life, let him make payment of whatever price is fixed.

³¹If the death of a son or of a daughter has been caused, the punishment is to be in agreement with this rule.

³²If the death of a man-servant or of a woman-servant is caused by the ox, the owner is to give their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to be stoned.

³³If a man makes a hole in the earth without covering it up, and an ox or an ass dropping into it comes to its death;

³⁴The owner of the hole is responsible; he will have to make payment to their owner, but the dead beast will be his.

³⁵And if one man's ox does damage to another man's ox, causing its death, then the living ox is to be exchanged for money, and division made of the price of it, and of the price of the dead one.

³⁶But if it is common knowledge that the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and its owner has not kept it under control, he will have to give ox for ox; and the dead beast will be his.