Exodus 18-21

Exodus 18

¹Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, how that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

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

³and her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a strange land:

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

⁵and Jethro, Moses’ father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mount of God:

⁶and he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

⁷And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent.

⁸And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them.

⁹And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

¹⁰And Jethro said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

¹¹Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: yea, in the thing wherein they dealt proudly against them.

¹²And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father in law before God.

¹³And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood about Moses from the morning unto the evening.

¹⁴And when Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand about thee from morning unto even?

¹⁵And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God:

¹⁶when they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbour, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.

¹⁷And Moses’ father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.

¹⁸Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

¹⁹Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee: be thou for the people to God-ward, and bring thou the causes unto God:

²⁰and thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.

²¹Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

²²and let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.

²³If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace.

²⁴So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.

²⁵And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²⁶And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

²⁷And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

Exodus 19

¹In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

²And when they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the wilderness of Sinai, they pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

³And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

⁴Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

⁵Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me from among all peoples: for all the earth is mine:

⁶and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

⁷And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him.

⁸And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people unto the LORD.

⁹And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

¹⁰And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,

¹¹and be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

¹²And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:

¹³no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

¹⁴And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their garments.

¹⁵And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not near a woman.

¹⁶And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud; and all the people that were in the camp trembled.

¹⁷And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

¹⁸And mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

¹⁹And when the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

²⁰And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, to the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

²¹And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

²²And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

²³And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou didst charge us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

²⁴And the LORD said unto him, Go, get thee down; and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

²⁵So Moses went down unto the people, and told them.

Exodus 20

¹And God spake all these words, saying,

²I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

³Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

⁴Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor the likeness of any form that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

⁵thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me;

⁶and shewing mercy unto thousands, of them that love me and keep my commandments.

⁷Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

¹⁰but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

¹¹for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

¹²Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

¹³Thou shalt do no murder.

¹⁴Thou shalt not commit adultery.

¹⁵Thou shalt not steal.

¹⁶Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

¹⁷Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

¹⁸And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off.

¹⁹And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

²⁰And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before you, that ye sin not.

²¹And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

²²And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

²³Ye shall not make other gods with me; gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you.

²⁴An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in every place where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee.

²⁵And if thou make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

²⁶Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

Exodus 21

¹Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

²If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

³If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.

⁵But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

⁶then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

⁷And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

⁸If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

⁹And if he espouse her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

¹⁰If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

¹¹And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out for nothing, without money.

¹²He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall surely be put to death.

¹³And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.

¹⁴And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

¹⁵And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

¹⁶And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸And if men contend, and one smiteth the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keep his bed:

¹⁹if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

²⁰And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall surely be punished.

²¹Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

²²And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

²³But if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

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

²⁵burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

²⁶And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, and destroy it; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.

²⁷And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

²⁸And if an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

²⁹But if the ox were wont to gore in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

³⁰If there be laid on him a ransom, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

³¹Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

³²If the ox gore a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be his.

³⁵And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it; and the dead also they shall divide.

³⁶Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his own.