The Daily Audio Bible
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34 The Lord told Moses, “Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write upon them the same commands that were on the tablets you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning to come up into Mount Sinai and present yourself to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come with you and no one must be anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds feed close to the mountain.”
4 So Moses took two tablets of stone like the first ones, and was up early and climbed Mount Sinai, as the Lord had told him to, taking the two stone tablets in his hands.
5-6 Then the Lord descended in the form of a pillar of cloud and stood there with him, and passed in front of him and announced the meaning of his name.[a] “I am Jehovah, the merciful and gracious God,” he said, “slow to anger and rich in steadfast love and truth. 7 I, Jehovah, show this steadfast love to many thousands by forgiving their sins;[b] or else I refuse to clear the guilty, and require that a father’s sins be punished in the sons and grandsons, and even later generations.”
8 Moses fell down before the Lord and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If it is true that I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, then please go with us to the Promised Land; yes, it is an unruly, stubborn people, but pardon our iniquity and our sins, and accept us as your own.”
10 The Lord replied, “All right, this is the contract I am going to make with you. I will do miracles such as have never been done before anywhere in all the earth, and all the people of Israel shall see the power of the Lord—the terrible power I will display through you. 11 Your part of the agreement is to obey all of my commandments; then I will drive out from before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
12 “Be very, very careful never to compromise with the people there in the land where you are going, for if you do, you will soon be following their evil ways. 13 Instead, you must break down their heathen altars, smash the obelisks they worship, and cut down their shameful idols.[c] 14 For you must worship no other gods, but only Jehovah, for he is a God who claims absolute loyalty and exclusive devotion.
15 “No, do not make a peace treaty of any kind with the people living in the land, for they are spiritual prostitutes, committing adultery against me by sacrificing to their gods.[d] If you become friendly with them and one of them invites you to go with him and worship his idol, you are apt to do it. 16 And you would accept their daughters, who worship other gods, as wives for your sons—and then your sons would commit adultery against me by worshiping their wives’ gods. 17 You must have nothing to do with idols.
18 “Be sure to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, just as I instructed you, at the dates appointed each year in March; that was the month you left Egypt.
19 “Every firstborn male[e] is mine—cattle, sheep, and goats. 20 The firstborn colt of a donkey may be redeemed by giving a lamb in its place. If you decide not to redeem it, then its neck must be broken. But your sons must all be redeemed. And no one shall appear before me without a gift.
21 “Even during plowing and harvest times, work only six days, and rest on the seventh.
22 “And you must remember to celebrate these three annual religious festivals: the Festival of Weeks, the Festival of the First Wheat, and the Harvest Festival. 23 On each of these three occasions all the men and boys of Israel shall appear before the Lord. 24 No one will attack and conquer your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God those three times each year. For I will drive out the nations from before you and enlarge your boundaries.
25 “You must not use leavened bread with your sacrifices to me, and none of the meat of the Passover lamb may be kept over until the following morning. 26 And you must bring the best of the first of each year’s crop to the Tabernacle of the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these laws[f] that I have given you, for they represent the terms of my covenant with you and with Israel.”
28 Moses was up on the mountain with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, and in all that time he neither ate nor drank. At that time God[g] wrote out the Covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.
29 Moses didn’t realize as he came back down the mountain with the tablets that his face glowed from being in the presence of God. 30 Because of this radiance upon his face, Aaron and the people of Israel were afraid to come near him.
31 But Moses called them over to him, and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation came and talked with him. 32 Afterwards, all the people came to him, and he gave them the commandments the Lord had given him upon the mountain. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face;[h] 34 but whenever he went into the Tabernacle to speak with the Lord, he removed the veil until he came out again; then he would pass on to the people whatever instructions God had given him, 35 and the people would see his face aglow. Afterwards he would put the veil on again until he returned to speak with God.
35 Now Moses called a meeting of all the people and told them, “These are the laws of Jehovah you must obey.
2 “Work six days only; the seventh day is a day of solemn rest, a holy day to be used to worship Jehovah; anyone working on that day must die. 3 Don’t even light the fires in your homes that day.”
4 Then Moses said to all the people, “This is what the Lord has commanded: 5-9 All of you who wish to, all those with generous hearts, may bring these offerings to Jehovah:
Gold, silver, and bronze;
Blue, purple, and scarlet cloth, made of fine-twined linen or of goats’ hair;
Tanned rams’ skins and specially treated goatskins;
Acacia wood;
Olive oil for the lamps;
Spices for the anointing oil and for the incense;
Onyx stones and stones to be used for the ephod and chestpiece.
15 Now the governor’s custom was to release one Jewish prisoner each year during the Passover celebration—anyone they wanted. 16 This year there was a particularly notorious criminal in jail named Barabbas, 17 and as the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning he asked them, “Which shall I release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus your Messiah?”[a] 18 For he knew very well that the Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy because of his popularity with the people.
19 Just then, as he was presiding over the court, Pilate’s wife sent him this message: “Leave that good man alone; for I had a terrible nightmare concerning him last night.”
20 Meanwhile the chief priests and Jewish officials persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas’s release, and for Jesus’ death. 21 So when the governor asked again,[b] “Which of these two shall I release to you?” the crowd shouted back their reply: “Barabbas!”
22 “Then what shall I do with Jesus, your Messiah?” Pilate asked.
And they shouted, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What has he done wrong?” But they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify!”
24 When Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing, he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this good man. The responsibility is yours!”
25 And the mob yelled back, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
26 Then Pilate released Barabbas to them. And after he had whipped Jesus, he gave him to the Roman soldiers to be taken away and crucified. 27 But first they took him into the armory and called out the entire contingent. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and made a crown from long thorns and put it on his head, and placed a stick in his right hand as a scepter and knelt before him in mockery. “Hail, King of the Jews,” they yelled. 30 And they spat on him and grabbed the stick and beat him on the head with it.
31 After the mockery, they took off the robe and put his own garment on him again, and took him out to crucify him.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his own. 13-15 The Lord gazes down upon mankind from heaven where he lives. He has made their hearts and closely watches everything they do.
16-17 The best-equipped army cannot save a king—for great strength is not enough to save anyone. A war horse is a poor risk for winning victories—it is strong, but it cannot save.
18-19 But the eyes of the Lord are watching over those who fear him, who rely upon his steady love. He will keep them from death even in times of famine! 20 We depend upon the Lord alone to save us. Only he can help us; he protects us like a shield. 21 No wonder we are happy in the Lord! For we are trusting him. We trust his holy name. 22 Yes, Lord, let your constant love surround us, for our hopes are in you alone.
9 Wisdom has built a palace supported on seven pillars, 2 and has prepared a great banquet, and mixed the wines, 3 and sent out her maidens inviting all to come. She calls from the busiest intersections in the city, 4 “Come, you simple ones without good judgment; 5 come to wisdom’s banquet and drink the wines that I have mixed. 6 Leave behind your foolishness and begin to live; learn how to be wise.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.