The One Year Bible TLB (30 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
February 4On the morning of the third day there was a terrific thunder and lightning storm, and a huge cloud came down upon the mountain, and there was a long, loud blast as from a ram’s horn; and all the people trembled.
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Moses led them out from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
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All Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because Jehovah descended upon it in the form of fire; the smoke billowed into the sky as from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook with a violent earthquake.
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As the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God thundered his reply.
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So the Lord came down upon the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses up to the top of the mountain, and Moses ascended to God.
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But the Lord told Moses, “Go back down and warn the people not to cross the boundaries. They must not come up here to try to see God, for if they do, many of them will die.
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Even the priests on duty
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must sanctify themselves, or else I will destroy them.”
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“But the people won’t come up into the mountain!” Moses protested. “You told them not to! You told me to set boundaries around the mountain and to declare it off limits because it is reserved for God.”
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But Jehovah said, “Go down and bring Aaron back with you, and don’t let the priests and the people break across the boundaries to try to come up here, or I will punish them.”
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So Moses went down to the people and told them what God had said.
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Then God issued this edict:
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“I am Jehovah your God who liberated you from your slavery in Egypt.
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“You may worship no other god than me.
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“You shall not make yourselves any idols: no images of animals, birds, or fish.
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You must never bow or worship it in any way; for I, the Lord your God, am very possessive. I will not share your affection with any other god!
“And when I punish people for their sins, the punishment continues upon the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of those who hate me;
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but I lavish my love upon thousands of those who love me and obey my commandments.
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“You shall not use the name of Jehovah your God irreverently,
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nor use it to swear to a falsehood. You will not escape punishment if you do.
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“Remember to observe the Sabbath as a holy day.
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Six days a week are for your daily duties and your regular work,
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but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest before the Lord your God. On that day you are to do no work of any kind, nor shall your son, daughter, or slaves—whether men or women—or your cattle or your house guests.
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For in six days the Lord made the heaven, earth, and sea, and everything in them, and rested the seventh day; so he blessed the Sabbath day and set it aside for rest.
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“Honor your father and mother, that you may have a long, good life in the land the Lord your God will give you.
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“You must not murder.
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“You must not commit adultery.
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“You must not steal.
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“You must not lie.
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“You must not be envious of your neighbor’s house, or want to sleep with his wife, or want to own his slaves, oxen, donkeys, or anything else he has.”
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All the people saw the lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, and heard the thunder and the long, frightening trumpet blast; and they stood at a distance, shaking with fear.
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They said to Moses, “You tell us what God says and we will obey, but don’t let God speak directly to us, or it will kill us.”
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“Don’t be afraid,” Moses told them, “for God has come in this way to show you his awesome power, so that from now on you will be afraid to sin against him!”
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As the people stood in the distance, Moses entered into the deep darkness where God was.
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And the Lord told Moses to be his spokesman to the people of Israel. “You are witnesses to the fact that I have made known my will to you from heaven.
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Remember, you must not make or worship idols made of silver or gold or of anything else!
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“The altars you make for me must be simple altars of earth. Offer upon them your sacrifices to me—your burnt offerings and peace offerings of sheep and oxen. Build altars only where I tell you to, and I will come and bless you there.
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You may also build altars from stone, but if you do, then use only uncut stones and boulders. Don’t chip or shape the stones with a tool, for that would make them unfit for my altar.
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And don’t make steps for the altar, or someone might look up beneath the skirts of your clothing and see your nakedness.
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“Here are other laws you must obey:
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“If you buy a Hebrew slave,
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he shall serve only six years and be freed in the seventh year, and need pay nothing to regain his freedom.
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“If he sold himself as a slave before he married, then if he married afterwards, only he shall be freed; but if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife shall be freed with him at the same time.
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But if his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they have sons or daughters, the wife and children shall still belong to the master, and he shall go out by himself free.
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“But if the man shall plainly declare, ‘I prefer my master, my wife, and my children, and I would rather not go free,’
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then his master shall bring him before the judges and shall publicly bore his ear with an awl, and after that he will be a slave forever.
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“If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not be freed at the end of six years as the men are.
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If she does not please the man who bought her, then he shall let her be bought back again; but he has no power to sell her to foreigners, since he has wronged her by no longer wanting her after marrying her.
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And if he arranges an engagement between a Hebrew slave girl and his son, then he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but must treat her as a daughter.
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If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing, or fail to sleep with her as his wife.
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If he fails in any of these three things, then she may leave freely without any payment.
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“Anyone who hits a man so hard that he dies shall surely be put to death.
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But if it is accidental—an act of God—and not intentional, then I will appoint a place where he can run and get protection.
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However, if a man deliberately attacks another, intending to kill him, drag him even from my altar, and kill him.
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“Anyone who strikes his father or mother shall surely be put to death.
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“A kidnapper must be killed, whether he is caught in possession of his victim or has already sold him as a slave.
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“Anyone who reviles or curses his mother or father shall surely be put to death.
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“If two men are fighting, and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist and injures him so that he must be confined to bed, but doesn’t die,
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if later he is able to walk again, even with a limp,
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the man who hit him will be innocent except that he must pay for the loss of his time until he is thoroughly healed, and pay any medical expenses.
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“If a man beats his slave to death—whether the slave is male or female—that man shall surely be punished.
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However, if the slave does not die for a couple of days, then the man shall not be punished—for the slave is his property.”
“Woe to you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders. Hypocrites! For you won’t let others enter the Kingdom of Heaven and won’t go in yourselves. And you pretend to be holy, with all your long, public prayers in the streets, while you are evicting widows from their homes. Hypocrites!
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Yes, woe upon you hypocrites. For you go to all lengths to make one convert, and then turn him into twice the son of hell you are yourselves.
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Blind guides! Woe upon you! For your rule is that to swear ‘By God’s Temple’ means nothing—you can break that oath, but to swear ‘By the gold in the Temple’ is binding!
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Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold, or the Temple that sanctifies the gold?
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And you say that to take an oath ‘By the altar’ can be broken, but to swear ‘By the gifts on the altar’ is binding!
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Blind! For which is greater, the gift on the altar, or the altar itself that sanctifies the gift?
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When you swear ‘By the altar,’ you are swearing by it and everything on it,
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and when you swear ‘By the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God who lives in it.
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And when you swear ‘By heavens,’ you are swearing by the Throne of God and by God himself.
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“Yes, woe upon you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders—hypocrites! For you tithe down to the last mint leaf in your garden, but ignore the important things—justice and mercy and faith. Yes, you should tithe, but you shouldn’t leave the more important things undone.
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Blind guides! You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.
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“Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! You are so careful to polish the outside of the cup, but the inside is foul with extortion and greed.
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Blind Pharisees! First cleanse the inside of the cup, and then the whole cup will be clean.
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“Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders! You are like beautiful mausoleums—full of dead men’s bones, and of foulness and corruption.
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You try to look like saintly men, but underneath those pious robes of yours are hearts besmirched with every sort of hypocrisy and sin.
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“Yes, woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! For you build monuments to the prophets killed by your fathers and lay flowers on the graves of the godly men they destroyed, and say, ‘We certainly would never have acted as our fathers did.’
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“In saying that, you are accusing yourselves of being the sons of wicked men.
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And you are following in their steps, filling up the full measure of their evil.
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Snakes! Sons of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of hell?
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“I will send you prophets, and wise men, and inspired writers, and you will kill some by crucifixion, and rip open the backs of others with whips in your synagogues, and hound them from city to city,
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so that you will become guilty of all the blood of murdered godly men from righteous Abel to Zechariah (son of Barachiah), slain by you in the Temple between the altar and the sanctuary.
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Yes, all the accumulated judgment of the centuries shall break upon the heads of this very generation.
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“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones all those God sends to her! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.
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And now your house is left to you, desolate.
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For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you are ready to welcome the one sent to you from God.”
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I plead with you to help me, Lord, for you are my Rock of safety. If you refuse to answer me, I might as well give up and die.
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Lord, I lift my hands to heaven
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and implore your help. Oh, listen to my cry.
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Don’t punish me with all the wicked ones who speak so sweetly to their neighbors while planning to murder them.
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Give them the punishment they so richly deserve! Measure it out to them in proportion to their wickedness; paythem back for all their evil deeds.
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They care nothing for God or what he has done or what he has made; therefore God will dismantle them like old buildings, never to be rebuilt again.
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Oh, praise the Lord, for he has listened to my pleadings!
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He is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trusted in him, and he helped me. Joy rises in my heart until I burst out in songs of praise to him.
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The Lord protects his people and gives victory to his anointed king.
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Defend your people, Lord; defend and bless your chosen ones. Lead them like a shepherd and carry them forever in your arms.