Ki TisaWhen you take

1Reading 1 Exodus 30:11–31:17Chapter page with footnotes →

The Census Offering

^30:11And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ¹²When you take up the head of the sons of Israel for their numbering, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to the LORD when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. ¹³This they shall give, everyone who passes over to those numbered: half of the shekel by the shekel of the holy; twenty gerahs the shekel; half of the shekel a contribution to the LORD.

¹⁴Everyone who passes over to those numbered, from a son of twenty years and upward, shall give the contribution of the LORD. ¹⁵The rich shall not increase, and the poor shall not diminish, from the half of the shekel, to give the contribution of the LORD, to make atonement upon your souls. ¹⁶And you shall take the silver of the atonements from the sons of Israel, and give it for the service of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed); and it shall be for the sons of Israel for a memorial before the LORD, to make atonement upon your souls.

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁸And you shall make a basin of bronze, and its stand of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of appointed time (mo-ed) and the altar, and you shall put water there. ¹⁹And Aaron and his sons shall wash from it their hands and their feet. ²⁰When they come to the tent of appointed time (mo-ed) they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they draw near to the altar to minister, to make an offering by fire smoke to the LORD; ²¹And they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die; and it shall be for them a statute of forever, for him and for his seed throughout their generations.

The Anointing Oil

²²And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ²³And you, take for yourself chief spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred, and of fragrant cinnamon half of it, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty, ²⁴and of cassia five hundred, by the shekel of the holy; and oil of olive a hin. ²⁵And you shall make it an oil of holy anointing, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be an oil of holy anointing.

²⁶And you shall anoint with it the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷and the table and all its vessels, and the lampstand and its vessels, and the altar of the incense, ²⁸and the altar of the burnt offering and all its vessels, and the basin and its stand. ²⁹And you shall consecrate them, that they may be holy of holies; whatever touches them shall become holy. ³⁰And Aaron and his sons you shall anoint, and consecrate them, to act as priest to Me.

³¹And to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying: An oil of holy anointing shall this be to Me throughout your generations. ³²Upon the flesh of man it shall not be poured, and in its proportion you shall not make like it; it is holy, it shall be holy to you. ³³A man who compounds like it, or who puts from it upon a stranger, shall be cut off from his peoples.

The Incense

³⁴And the LORD said to Moses: Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices and pure frankincense; part for part it shall be. ³⁵And you shall make it incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, holy. ³⁶And you shall beat some of it fine, and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), where I will meet with you; it shall be holy of holies to you. ³⁷And the incense which you shall make, in its proportion you shall not make for yourselves; it shall be to you holy for the LORD. ³⁸A man who makes like it, to smell with it, shall be cut off from his peoples.

Bezalel and Oholiab

^31:1And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ²"See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; ³and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all workmanship, ⁴to devise designs, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, ⁵and in cutting of stone for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all workmanship.

⁶And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all who are wise of heart I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you: ⁷the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), and the ark for the testimony, and the cover which is upon it, and all the vessels of the tent; ⁸and the table and its vessels, and the pure lampstand and all its vessels, and the altar of incense; ⁹and the altar of the burnt offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its base; ¹⁰and the garments of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to serve as priest; ¹¹and the anointing oil, and the incense of spices for the holy place; according to all that I have commanded you they shall do."

The Sign of the Shabbat

¹²And the LORD said to Moses, saying: ¹³"And you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying: Surely my Shabbat you shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, to know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. ¹⁴And you shall keep the Shabbat, for it is holy to you; those who profane it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does work in it, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of its people. ¹⁵Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day is a Shabbat of Shabbaton, holy to the LORD; whoever does work on the day of the Shabbat shall surely be put to death.

¹⁶And the sons of Israel shall keep the Shabbat, to observe the Shabbat throughout their generations, an everlasting covenant. ¹⁷Between me and the sons of Israel it is a sign forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he shabbatted and was refreshed."

2Reading 2 Exodus 31:18–33:11Chapter page with footnotes →

Moses Receives the Tablets

^31:18And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

The Golden Calf

^32:1And the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, and the people gathered against Aaron, and said to him: "Arise, make for us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."

²And Aaron said to them: "Break off the rings of gold which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."

³And all the people broke off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. ⁴And he took it from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

⁵And Aaron saw, and built an altar before it; and Aaron called out and said: "A feast to the LORD tomorrow."

⁶And they rose early on the next day, and offered up burnt offerings, and brought near peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to make merry.

⁷And the LORD spoke to Moses: "Go, get down, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly. ⁸They have turned aside quickly from the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have bowed down to it, and have sacrificed to it, and have said: These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

⁹And the LORD said to Moses: "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰And now, leave me alone, that my anger may burn against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation."

¹¹And Moses entreated the face of the LORD his God, and said: "Why, O LORD, does your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil he brought them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the ground? Turn from the heat of your anger, and relent of the evil against your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself, and spoke to them: I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever."

¹⁴And the LORD relented of the evil which he had spoken to do to his people.

¹⁵And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. ¹⁶And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.

¹⁷And Joshua heard the voice of the people in its shouting, and said to Moses: "There is a voice of war in the camp."

¹⁸And he said: "It is not the voice of the crying of might, and it is not the voice of the crying of weakness; the voice of singing I hear."

¹⁹And it came to pass, as he drew near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dances; and Moses' anger burned, and he cast the tablets from his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. ²⁰And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it ad(עד) it was fine, and scattered it on the face of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink.

²¹And Moses said to Aaron: "What did this people do to you, that you have brought upon it a great sin?"

²²And Aaron said: "Let not the anger of my lord burn; you know the people, that it is set on evil. ²³And they said to me: Make for us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

²⁴And I said to them: Whoever has gold, break it off; and they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and out came this calf."

²⁵And Moses saw the people, that it was let loose, for Aaron had let them loose for derision among those who rose against them. ²⁶then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said: "Whoever is for the LORD, to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.

²⁷And he said to them: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Put each man his sword upon his thigh, pass over and return from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay each man his brother, and each man his companion, and each man his neighbor."

²⁸And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people on that day about three thousand men.

²⁹And Moses said: "Fill your hand today for the LORD, for each man was against his son and against his brother; and that he may bestow upon you today a blessing."

³⁰And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses said to the people: "You have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up to the LORD, perhaps I may make atonement for your sin."

³¹And Moses returned to the LORD, and said: "Oh, this people has sinned a great sin, and has made for themselves gods of gold. ³²And now, if you will forgive their sin—; but if not, blot me, I pray, out of your book which you have written."

³³And the LORD said to Moses: "Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book. ³⁴And now go, lead the people to where I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you; but in the day of my visiting, I will visit upon them their sin."

³⁵And the LORD struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

The Command to Leave Sinai

^33:1And the LORD spoke to Moses: "Go, go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying: To your seed I will give it— ²and I will send before you an angel; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite— ³to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you in the way."

⁴And the people heard this evil word, and they mourned; and no man put on him his ornaments. ⁵And the LORD said to Moses: "Say to the sons of Israel: You are a stiff-necked people; one moment I might go up in your midst and consume you; and now, take down your ornaments from upon you, that I may know what I shall do to you."

⁶And the sons of Israel stripped off their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.

The Tent of Meeting

⁷And Moses would take the tent and pitch it for himself outside the camp, far off from the camp; and he called it the tent of appointed time (mo-ed). And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), which was outside the camp. ⁸And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, each man at the door of his tent, and looked after Moses ad(עד) he had gone into the tent. ⁹And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tent, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tent, and he spoke with Moses. ¹⁰And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent, and all the people rose up and bowed down, each man at the door of his tent.

¹¹And the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his companion. And he would return to the camp; but his minister Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from within the tent.

3Reading 3 Exodus 33:12–16Chapter page with footnotes →

The Promise of God’s Presence

^33:12And Moses said to the LORD: "See, you say to 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 eyes. ¹³And now, if please I have found favor in your eyes, make known to me please your ways, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your eyes; and consider that this nation is your people."

¹⁴And he said: "My face shall go, and I will give you rest."

¹⁵And he said to him: "If your face does not go, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶And in what shall it be known then that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are upon the face of the ground?"

4Reading 4 Exodus 33:17–23Chapter page with footnotes →

^33:17And the LORD said to Moses: "Also this thing which you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my eyes, and I know you by name."

¹⁸And he said: "Show me, I pray, your glory."

¹⁹And he said: "I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy."

²⁰And he said: "You are not able to see my face, for man shall not see me and live."

²¹And the LORD said: "Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand upon the rock. ²²And it shall come to pass, when my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my palm ad(עד) I have passed by. ²³And I will remove my palm, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen."

5Reading 5 Exodus 34:1–9Chapter page with footnotes →

New Stone Tablets

^34:1And the LORD said to Moses, "Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write upon the tablets the words that were upon the first tablets, which you broke. ²And be ready by the morning, and you shall come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and you shall present yourself to me there upon the top of the mount. ³And no man shall come up with you, and also let no man be seen in all the mount; also the flock and the herd shall not graze in front of that mount."

⁴And he hewed two tablets of stone like the first ones, and Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and he took in his hand two tablets of stone.

⁵And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed in the name of the LORD. ⁶And the LORD passed by before his face, and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious, long of nostrils, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth,

⁷keeping lovingkindness for thousands, bearing iniquity and transgression and sin, and clearing he will not clear, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon sons and upon sons of sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generations."

⁸And Moses hastened, and bowed toward the earth, and worshipped. ⁹And he said, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go in our midst; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance."

6Reading 6 Exodus 34:10–26Chapter page with footnotes →

The LORD Renews the Covenant

^34:10And he said, "Behold, I am cutting a covenant: before all your people I will do wonders, such as have not been created in all the earth and in all the nations; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is awesome which I am doing with you.

¹¹Observe for yourself that which I am commanding you this day. Behold, I am driving out before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. ¹²Take heed to yourself, lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitant of the land which you are coming upon, lest it be for a snare in your midst. ¹³But you shall break down their altars, and you shall shatter their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim. ¹⁴For you shall not bow down to another god; for the LORD, Jealous is his name, is a jealous God.

¹⁵Lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitant of the land, and they go whoring after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you, and you eat of his sacrifice; ¹⁶and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters go whoring after their gods, and make your sons go whoring after their gods.

¹⁷Molten gods you shall not make for yourself.

¹⁸The feast of unleavened bread you shall keep; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time (mo-ed) of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.

¹⁹Every opener of the womb is mine, and all your livestock, the male shall be set apart, the firstling of ox and sheep. ²⁰And the firstling of a donkey you shall redeem with a sheep; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And they shall not appear before my face empty.

²¹Six days you shall work, and on the seventh day you shall shabbat; in plowing and in harvest you shall shabbat.

²²And the feast of weeks you shall make for yourself, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year. ²³Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the face of the Lord the LORD, the God of Israel. ²⁴For I will dispossess nations before you, and I will enlarge your border; and no man shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the face of the LORD your God three times in the year.

²⁵You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice upon leavened bread; and the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not remain overnight until the morning.

²⁶The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."

7Reading 7 Exodus 34:27–35Chapter page with footnotes →

^34:27And the LORD said to Moses, "Write for yourself these words; for upon the mouth of these words I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel."

²⁸And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; bread he did not eat, and water he did not drink. And he wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.

²⁹And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mount, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he spoke with him. ³⁰And Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to draw near to him.

³¹And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the princes in the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³²And afterward all the sons of Israel drew near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

³³And Moses finished speaking with them, and he put a veil upon his face. ³⁴And when Moses went in before the face of the LORD to speak with him, he removed the veil ad(עד) he came out; and he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel that which he was commanded. ³⁵And the sons of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone; and Moses put back the veil upon his face, ad(עד) he went in to speak with him.

P1 Kings 18:1–39Chapter page with footnotes →

Elijah’s Message to Ahab

^18:1And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying: "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will give rain upon the face of the ground."

²And Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And the famine was severe in Samaria. ³And Ahab called Obadiah who was over the house. Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly. ⁴And it came to pass, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them, fifty men in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water.

⁵And Ahab said to Obadiah: "Go through the land, to all the springs of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we may find grass and keep alive horse and mule, and not cut off any of the beasts."

⁶And they divided the land between them to pass through it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said: "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"

⁸And he said to him: "It is I; go, say to your lord: Behold, Elijah."

⁹And he said: "What have I sinned, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab, to put me to death? ¹⁰As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you; and when they said, He is not here, he made the kingdom and the nation swear that they did not find you. ¹¹And now you say: Go, say to your lord: Behold, Elijah.

¹²And it shall be, when I go from you, that the spirit of the LORD will carry you to where I do not know; and I will come to tell Ahab, and he will not find you, and he will kill me; but your servant has feared the LORD from my youth. ¹³Has it not been told to my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid of the prophets of the LORD a hundred men, fifty, fifty men in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water? ¹⁴And now you say: Go, say to your lord: Behold, Elijah; and he will kill me."

¹⁵And Elijah said: "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely today I will show myself to him."

Elijah on Mount Carmel

¹⁶And Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him: "Is it you, troubler of Israel?"

¹⁸And he said: "I have not troubled Israel, but you and the house of your father, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have gone after the Baals. ¹⁹And now send, gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred, who eat at the table of Jezebel."

²⁰And Ahab sent among all the sons of Israel, and gathered the prophets to mount Carmel. ²¹And Elijah came near to all the people and said: "How long will you go limping upon two opinions? If the LORD is God, go after Him; but if Baal, go after him." And the people did not answer him a word.

²²And Elijah said to the people: "I, I alone, am left a prophet of the LORD; but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men. ²³And let them give to us two bulls, and let them choose for themselves the one bull, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire; and I will prepare the one bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire. ²⁴And you shall call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God." And all the people answered and said: "The word is good."

²⁵And Elijah said to the prophets of Baal: "Choose for yourselves the one bull, and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire."

²⁶And they took the bull which was given to them, and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from the morning even until noon, saying: "O Baal, answer us." But there was no voice, and none answered. And they leaped about the altar which was made.

²⁷And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said: "Call with a great voice, for he is a god; for he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and must awake."

²⁸And they called with a great voice, and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and with lances, until blood gushed out upon them.

²⁹And it came to pass, when noon passed, that they prophesied until the going up of the offering; but there was no voice, and none answered, and none gave heed.

³⁰And Elijah said to all the people: "Come near to me." And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was thrown down.

³¹And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying: "Israel shall be your name." ³²And he built the stones into an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench, as great as a house of two seahs of seed, around the altar.

³³And he arranged the wood, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. ³⁴And he said: "Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood." And he said: "Do it a second time"; and they did it a second time. And he said: "Do it a third time"; and they did it a third time.

³⁵And the water went around the altar; and also the trench he filled with water.

Elijah’s Prayer

³⁶And it came to pass at the going up of the offering, that Elijah the prophet came near and said: "The LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel, and I am Your servant, and at Your word I have done all these things. ³⁷Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, the LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart backward."

³⁸Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and the water that was in the trench it licked up.

³⁹And all the people saw, and fell on their faces; and they said: "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God."

AActs 7:38–43Chapter page with footnotes →

^7:38This is the one who was in the ekklesia in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracless to pass on to us.

The Rebellion of Israel

³⁹This is the one our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to, but pushed aside; and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, 'Make gods for us who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt — we do not know what happened to him.'

⁴¹And they made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'You did not offer to Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, did you, house of Israel?

⁴³You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Remphan, the images which you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'