New International Version  
Chapter 23
Laws of Justice and Mercy
1“Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.
2“Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,
3and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.
4“If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him.
5If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.
6“Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
7Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.
8“Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.
9“Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.
Sabbath Laws
10“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,
11but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12“Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed.
13“Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
The Three Annual Festivals
14“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
15“Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
16“Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.
“Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.
17“Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD.
18“Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.
“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.
19“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.
God's Angel to Prepare the Way
20“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
21Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.
22If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
23My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
24Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.
25Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you,
26and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
27“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.
28I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.
29But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.
30Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.
31“I will establish your borders from the Red SeaHebrew Yam Suph; that is, Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines,That is, the Mediterranean and from the desert to the River.That is, the Euphrates I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you.
32Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.
33Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”
Chapter 24
The Covenant Confirmed
1Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance,
2but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”
3When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.”
4Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.
He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
5Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offeringsTraditionally peace offerings to the LORD.
6Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar.
7Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.”
8Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
9Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up
10and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire,Or lapis lazuli clear as the sky itself.
11But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
12The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.”
13Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.
14He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,
16and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud.
17To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.
18Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Chapter 25
Offerings for the Tabernacle
1The LORD said to Moses,
2“Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.
3These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze;
4blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair;
5ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cowsThat is, dugongs; acacia wood;
6olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;
7and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.
8“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
9Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.
The Ark
10“Have them make a chest of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.That is, about 3 3/4 feet (about 1.1 meters) long and 2 1/4 feet (about 0.7 meter) wide and high
11Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it.
12Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other.
13Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
14Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it.
15The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed.
16Then put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.
17“Make an atonement coverTraditionally a mercy seat of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.That is, about 3 3/4 feet (about 1.1 meters) long and 2 1/4 feet (about 0.7 meter) wide
18And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover.
19Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends.
20The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover.
21Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.
22There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.
The Table
23“Make a table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.That is, about 3 feet (about 0.9 meter) long and 1 1/2 feet (about 0.5 meter) wide and 2 1/4 feet (about 0.7 meter) high
24Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it.
25Also make around it a rim a handbreadthThat is, about 3 inches (about 8 centimeters) wide and put a gold molding on the rim.
26Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are.
27The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table.
28Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them.
29And make its plates and dishes of pure gold, as well as its pitchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings.
30Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.
The Lampstand
31“Make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it.
32Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other.
33Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand.
34And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms.
35One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all.
36The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.
37“Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it.
38Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold.
39A talentThat is, about 75 pounds (about 34 kilograms) of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories.
40See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

LOADING .......