In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. . . .

On the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai. He said: “Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. You and Aaron are to number those who are twenty years of age or older by their divisions—everyone who can serve in Israel’s army. And one man from each tribe, the head of each family, must be there with you. These are the names of the men who are to assist you: From the tribe of Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur; . . .

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.” This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey. On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!” And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. . . .

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD.

These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt. . . .

So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”

Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else, and for three days no one left his place. Yet all the Israelites had light in their dwellings.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else, and for three days no one left his place. Yet all the Israelites had light in their dwellings. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your little ones may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.” But Moses replied, “You must also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God. . . .

Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.

Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The LORD is a warrior, the LORD is His name. Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank there like a stone. . . .

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water.

Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

After they had set out from Rephidim, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.

And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

This is the offering you are to accept from them: gold, silver, and bronze;

Make fifty bronze clasps and put them through the loops to join the tent together as a unit.

Make five posts of acacia wood for the curtain, overlay them with gold hooks, and cast five bronze bases for them.

Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze. Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots for removing ashes, its shovels, its sprinkling bowls, its meat forks, and its firepans. Construct for it a grate of bronze mesh, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the mesh. Set the grate beneath the ledge of the altar, so that the mesh comes halfway up the altar. Additionally, make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. . . .

And place the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece of judgment, so that they will also be over Aaron’s heart whenever he comes before the LORD. Aaron will continually carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD.

“You are to make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Set it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it,

to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze,

And all who could present an offering of silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to the LORD. Also, everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the service brought it.

to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze,

Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze;

He also made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together as a unit.

together with five posts and their hooks. He overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold, and their five bases were bronze.

The rings were placed close to the rim, to serve as holders for the poles used to carry the table.

He made a horn at each of its four corners, so that the horns and altar were of one piece, and he overlaid the altar with bronze. He made all the altar’s utensils of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks, and firepans. He made a grate of bronze mesh for the altar under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom. At the four corners of the bronze grate he cast four rings as holders for the poles. And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. . . .

Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

the bronze altar with its bronze grating, its poles, and all its utensils; the basin with its stand;

But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”

That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen: “You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw.

These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years. The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, by their clans. The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years. The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of the Levites according to their records. And Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.” Moses and Aaron were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every bird of flight after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.” Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he replied, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent? Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.” . . .

One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her. Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites, “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.” The Hittites replied to Abraham, . . .

So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.” Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him. Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted. . . .

In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.

“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time?

Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

that read: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem agrees—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and this is why you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king,

and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.

and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron: “The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance from it, each man under his standard, with the banners of his family. On the east side, toward the sunrise, the divisions of Judah are to camp under their standard: The leader of the descendants of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab, and his division numbers 74,600. The tribe of Issachar will camp next to it. The leader of the Issacharites is Nethanel son of Zuar, . . .

Then the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, saying,

On the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, the Israelites set out from Rameses. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them; for the LORD had executed judgment against their gods. The Israelites set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth. They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. They set out from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon, and they camped near Migdol. . . .

In the first month of the second year after Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:

and they did so in the Wilderness of Sinai, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

The sun has one degree of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

On the first day of every week, each of you should set aside a portion of his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will be needed.

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the one who loves God is known by God. So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), . . .

I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.

Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,

The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.

For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm;

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now. . . .

It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.

save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.

All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

At that time some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

(as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to the Lord”),

Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His ministry. He was regarded as the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Meanwhile Peter and his companions were overcome by sleep, but when they awoke, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with Him. As Moses and Elijah were leaving, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

After the voice had spoken, only Jesus was present with them. The disciples kept this to themselves, and in those days they did not tell anyone what they had seen. The next day, when they came down from the mountain, Jesus was met by a large crowd.

Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” “Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him, and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

And the second beast performed great signs to cause even fire from heaven to come down to earth in the presence of the people.

One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.

For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.

For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,