11. יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
12. “When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to יהוה, when you number them; that there be no plague among them when you number them.
13. They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; (the shekel is twenty gerahs; ) half a shekel for an offering to יהוה.
14. Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to יהוה.
15. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of יהוה, to make atonement for your souls.
16. You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before יהוה, to make atonement for your souls.”
17. יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
18. “You shall also make a basin of brass, and the base of it of brass, in which to wash. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.
19. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.
20. When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to יהוה.
21. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations.”
22. Moreover יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
23. “Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty;
24. And of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil.
25. You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.
26. You shall use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony,
27. The table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,
28. The altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.
29. You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.
30. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office.
31. You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.
32. It shall not be poured on man’s flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you.
33. Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.’”
34. יהוה said to Moses , “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be an equal weight;
35. And you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy:
36. And you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.
37. The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for יהוה.
38. Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people.”
Chapter 31
1. יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
2. “Behold, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri , the son of Hur , of the tribe of Judah :
3. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
4. To devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
5. And in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship.
6. I, behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab , the son of Ahisamach , of the tribe of Dan ; and in the heart of all who are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you:
7. The tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the mercy seat that is on it, all the furniture of the Tent,
8. The table and its vessels, the pure lampstand with all its vessels, the altar of incense,
9. The altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, the basin and its base,
10. The finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron , the priest, the garments of his sons to minister in the priest’s office,
11. The anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”
12. יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
13. “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most assuredly you shall keep my Sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am יהוה who sanctifies you.
14. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
15. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to יהוה. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
16. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
17. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days יהוה made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’”
18. He gave to Moses , when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.
Chapter 32
1. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron , and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses , the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
2. Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3. All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron .
4. He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
5. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to יהוה.”
6. They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7. יהוה spoke to Moses , “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9. יהוה said to Moses , “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
10. Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11. Moses begged יהוה his God, and said, “ יהוה, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12. Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them forth for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.
13. Remember Abraham , Isaac , and Israel , your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14. יהוה repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.
15. Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.
16. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tables.
17. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses , “There is the noise of war in the camp.”
18. He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory, neither is it the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.”
19. It happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses ’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.
20. He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
21. Moses said to Aaron , “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”
22. Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
23. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses , the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’
24. I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off:’ so they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25. When Moses saw that the people had broken loose, (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies),
26. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on יהוהs side, come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
27. He said to them, “Thus says יהוה, the God of Israel, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.”
28. The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses : and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29. Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to יהוה, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow on you a blessing this day.”
30. It happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to יהוה. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”
31. Moses returned to יהוה, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.
32. Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin„and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
33. יהוה said to Moses , “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
34. Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
35. יהוה struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
Chapter 33
1. יהוה spoke to Moses , “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham , to Isaac , and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed.’
2. I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
3. To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you in the way.”
4. When the people heard this evil news, they mourned: and no one put on his jewelry.
5. יהוה said to Moses , “Tell the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up into your midst for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry from you, that I may know what to do to you.”
6. The children of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.
7. Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it “The tent of meeting.” It happened that everyone who sought יהוה went out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.
8. It happened that when Moses went out to the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, everyone at their tent door, and watched Moses , until he had gone into the Tent.
9. It happened, when Moses entered into the Tent, that the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and spoke with Moses .
10. All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped, everyone at their tent door.
11. יהוה spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart out of the Tent.
12. Moses said to יהוה, “Behold, you tell me, ‘Bring up this people:’ and you haven’t 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 sight.’
13. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight: and consider that this nation is your people.”
14. He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15. He said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here.
16. For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it in that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?”
17. יהוה said to Moses , “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
18. He said, “Please show me your glory.”
19. He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of יהוה before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
20. He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”
21. יהוה also said, “Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock.
22. It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by;
23. Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
Chapter 34
1. יהוה said to Moses , “Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
2. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
3. No one shall come up with you; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.”
4. He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as יהוה had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.
5. יהוה descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of יהוה.
6. יהוה passed by before him, and proclaimed, “ יהוה! יהוה, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
7. Keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”
8. Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
9. He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
10. He said, “Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of יהוה; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.
11. Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
12. Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you:
13. But you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim;
14. For you shall worship no other god: for יהוה, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15. Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;
16. And you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.
17. You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
18. “You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
19. All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
20. The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty.
21. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
22. You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.
23. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord יהוה, the God of Israel.
24. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before יהוה, your God, three times in the year.
25. “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.
26. You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of יהוה your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27. יהוה said to Moses , “Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
28. He was there with יהוה forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
29. It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses ’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.
30. When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses , behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.
31. Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.
32. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that יהוה had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
33. When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34. But when Moses went in before יהוה to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35. The children of Israel saw Moses ’ face, that the skin of Moses ’ face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.