YitroJethro

1Reading 1 Exodus 18:1–12Chapter page with footnotes →

The Visit of Jethro

^18:1And Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, that the LORD had brought Israel out from Egypt.

²And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, after he had sent her away, ³and her two sons; of whom the name of the one was Gershom, for he said: "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land"; ⁴and the name of the other was Eliezer: "for 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 to Moses, to the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mount of God; ⁶and he said to Moses: "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, and your wife, and her two sons with her."

⁷And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed down and kissed him; and they asked a man of his neighbor of welfare; and they came into the tent. ⁸And Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had found them on the way, and how the LORD delivered them.

⁹And Jethro rejoiced over all the good which the LORD had done to Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of Egypt. ¹⁰And Jethro said: "Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of Egypt and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who has delivered the people from under the hand of Egypt. ¹¹Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; for in the matter in which they acted proudly, He was over 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.

2Reading 2 Exodus 18:13–23Chapter page with footnotes →

Jethro Advises Moses

^18:13And it came to pass on the next day that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening. ¹⁴And Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, and he said: "What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting alone, and all the people standing by you from morning until evening?"

¹⁵And Moses said to his father-in-law: "Because the people come to me to inquire of God; ¹⁶when they have a matter, it comes to me; and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and His Torah."

¹⁷And Moses' father-in-law said to him: "The thing that you are doing is not good. ¹⁸You will surely wear away, both you and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to do it alone.

¹⁹Now listen to my voice, I will counsel you, and may God be with you: be you for the people before God, and bring you the matters to God; ²⁰and you shall warn them of the statutes and the Torah, and make known to them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do.

²¹And you shall look out from all the people men of valor, fearers of God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and set over them rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²²And they shall judge the people at all times; and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so make it lighter for yourself, and they shall bear with you.

²³If you do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and also all this people shall go to their place in peace."

3Reading 3 Exodus 18:24–27Chapter page with footnotes →

^18:24And Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. ²⁵And Moses chose men of valor 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 times: the hard matter they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

²⁷And Moses sent away his father-in-law, and he went his way to his own land.

4Reading 4 Exodus 19:1–6Chapter page with footnotes →

Israel at Mount Sinai

^19:1In the third month of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. ²And they journeyed from Rephidim, and they came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain.

³And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell to the sons of Israel: ⁴You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on wings of eagles and brought you to Myself. ⁵And now, if you will indeed hearken to My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be to Me a treasured possession from among all the peoples; for all the earth is Mine. ⁶And you yourselves shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the sons of Israel."

5Reading 5 Exodus 19:7–19Chapter page with footnotes →

^19:7And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and he set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. ⁸And all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." And Moses returned the words of the people to the LORD.

⁹And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I am coming to you in the thick of the cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you, and also in you they may believe forever." And Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.

¹⁰And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, ¹¹and let them be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down before the eyes of all the people upon Mount Sinai.

¹²And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, 'Guard yourselves from going up into the mountain or touching its edge; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. ¹³No hand shall touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or surely be shot through; whether beast or man, it shall not live.' When the ram's horn sounds long, they shall come up into the mountain."

¹⁴And Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and he sanctified the people, and they washed their garments. ¹⁵And he said to the people, "Be ready for the three days; do not come near to a woman."

The LORD Visits Sinai

¹⁶And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings and a heavy cloud upon the mountain, and a very strong sound of a horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. ¹⁷And Moses brought out the people from the camp to meet God, and they stationed themselves at the lower part of the mountain.

¹⁸And Mount Sinai was wholly in smoke, because the LORD came down upon it in the fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of the furnace, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. ¹⁹And it came to pass, the sound of the horn was going and growing very strong; Moses would speak, and God would answer him by a voice.

6Reading 6 Exodus 19:20–20:14Chapter page with footnotes →

^19:20And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. ²¹And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to see, and many of them fall. ²²And also the priests who come near to the LORD shall sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them."

²³And Moses said to the LORD, "The people are not able to come up to Mount Sinai; for You yourself warned us, saying, 'Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it.'"

²⁴And the LORD said to him, "Go, get down, and you shall come up, you and Aaron with you; but the priests and the people, let them not break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break forth upon them."

²⁵And Moses went down to the people, and he said to them.

The Ten Commandments

^20:1And God spoke all these words, saying:

²I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants.

³You shall have no other gods before My face.

⁴You shall not make for yourself a carved image, nor any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the earth beneath, or what is in the waters under the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those who hate Me, ⁶and doing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and to those who keep My commandments.

⁷You shall not lift up the name of the LORD your God for vanity; for the LORD will not hold guiltless the one who lifts up His name for vanity.

⁸Remember the day of the Shabbat, to sanctify it. ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁰But the seventh day is a Shabbat to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your beast, nor your sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the day of the Shabbat and sanctified it.

¹²Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the ground which the LORD your God is giving to you.

¹³You shall not murder.

¹⁴You shall not commit adultery.

7Reading 7 Exodus 20:15–23Chapter page with footnotes →

^20:15You shall not steal.

¹⁶You shall not answer against your neighbor as a false witness.

¹⁷You shall not covet the house of your neighbor; you shall not covet the wife of your neighbor, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Moses Comforts the People

¹⁸And all the people were seeing the thunderings and the torches and the sound of the horn and the mountain smoking; and the people saw, and they shook, and they stood far off. ¹⁹And they said to Moses, "Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die."

²⁰And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for in order to test you God has come, and in order that His fear may be upon your faces, so that you do not sin." ²¹And the people stood far off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Idolatry Forbidden

²²And the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: You yourselves have seen that from the heavens I have spoken with you. ²³You shall not make alongside Me gods of silver, and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.

PIsaiah 6:1–7:6Chapter page with footnotes →

Isaiah’s Commission

^6:1In the year of the death of king Uzziah, I saw my Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. ²Seraphim were standing above him; six wings, six wings to each one: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And this one called to that one, and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the fullness of all the earth is his glory."

⁴And the posts of the thresholds shook from the voice of the one calling, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵And I said: "Woe to me, for I am undone! for I am a man of unclean lips, and in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

⁶And one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand a glowing coal, with tongs he had taken it from upon the altar. ⁷And he touched it upon my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched upon your lips; and your iniquity is turned away, and your sin atoned for."

⁸And I heard the voice of my Lord saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said: "Here am I; send me."

⁹And he said: "Go, and you shall say to this people: Hear indeed, but do not understand; and see indeed, but do not perceive.

¹⁰Make fat the heart of this people, and make its ears heavy, and shut its eyes; lest it see with its eyes, and with its ears hear, and its heart understand, and it return and be healed."

¹¹And I said: "Until when, my Lord?" And he said: "Until that cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the ground is laid waste, a desolation,

¹²and the LORD has removed the man far away, and great is the forsakenness in the midst of the land.

¹³And yet in it a tenth, and it shall return and be for burning, like a terebinth and like an oak which, in their felling, a stump remains in them; a holy seed is its stump."

A Message to Ahaz

^7:1And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel went up to Jerusalem for war against it, but he was not able to fight against it.

²And it was told to the house of David, saying: "Aram rests upon Ephraim." And his heart shook, and the heart of his people, like the shaking of the trees of the forest before the wind.

³And the LORD said to Isaiah: "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, to the end of the conduit of the upper pool, to the highway of the launderer's field, ⁴and you shall say to him: Take heed and be quiet; do not fear, and let not your heart be faint, from these two tails of smoking firebrands, from the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. ⁵Because Aram has counseled evil against you, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying: ⁶'Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and let us breach it for ourselves, and let us make a king reign in the midst of it, the son of Tabeel.'

PIsaiah 9:5–6Chapter page with footnotes →

^9:5For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us; and the dominion is upon his shoulder; and one calls his name Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace;

⁶to the increase of the dominion and to peace there is no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it in judgment and in righteousness, from now and forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

AHebrews 12:18–24Chapter page with footnotes →

An Unshakable Kingdom

^12:18For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched — a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind ¹⁹and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. ²⁰For they could not endure the order that was given: "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." ²¹Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear."

²²But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable myriads of angels, ²³to the festal gathering and ekklesia of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous who have been made perfect, ²⁴and to Yeshua, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.