Chronological Plan

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’

²And I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

³Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴When the people heard this sad word, they went into mourning, and none of them put on his jewelry.

⁵For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are an obstinate people; if I were to go up in your midst for just one moment, I would destroy you. So now, take off your jewelry that I may know what I shall do to you.’ ”

⁶So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.

⁸And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent.

⁹Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the LORD would speak with Moses.

¹⁰When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would stand and worship, each at the entrance of his tent.

¹¹So the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

¹²Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’

¹³Now then, if I have found favor in Your sight in any way, please let me know Your ways so that I may know You, in order that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.”

¹⁴And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.

¹⁶For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷The LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.”

¹⁸Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!”

¹⁹And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.”

²⁰He further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!”

²¹Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;

²²and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.

²³Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

¹Now the LORD said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you smashed.

²So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain.

³And no one is to come up with you, nor let anyone be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.”

⁴So he cut out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses got up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and he took the two stone tablets in his hand.

⁵And the LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD.

⁶Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth;

⁷who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

⁸And Moses hurried to bow low toward the ground and worship.

⁹Then he said, “If in any way I have found favor in Your sight, Lord, please may the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.”

¹⁰Then God said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the LORD, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.

¹¹“Be sure to comply with what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite from you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

¹²Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst.

¹³But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones, and cut down their Asherim

¹⁴—for you shall not worship any other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—

¹⁵otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they would prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice,

¹⁶and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons also to prostitute themselves with their gods.

¹⁷You shall not make for yourself any gods cast in metal.

¹⁸“You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹“The firstborn from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the firstborn from cattle and sheep.

²⁰You shall redeem with a lamb the firstborn from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None are to appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹“You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.

²²And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

²³Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.

²⁴For I will drive out nations from you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD your God.

²⁵“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.

²⁶“You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

²⁸So he was there with the LORD for forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

²⁹And it came about, when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.

³⁰So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to approach him.

³¹Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.

³²Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the LORD had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.

³³When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

³⁴But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded,

³⁵the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.

¹Then Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and said to them, “These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do:

²“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.

³You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”

⁴Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, saying,

⁵‘Take from among you a contribution to the LORD; whoever is of a willing heart is to bring it as the LORD’S contribution: gold, silver, and bronze,

⁶and violet, purple, and scarlet material, fine linen, goats’ hair,

⁷and rams’ skins dyed red, and fine leather, and acacia wood,

⁸and oil for lighting, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense,

⁹and onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

¹⁰‘Have every skillful person among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded:

¹¹the tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its hooks and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its bases;

¹²the ark and its poles, the atoning cover, and the covering curtain;

¹³the table and its poles, and all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence;

¹⁴the lampstand also for the light and its utensils and its lamps, and the oil for the light;

¹⁵and the altar of incense and its poles, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the curtain for the doorway at the entrance of the tabernacle;

¹⁶the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin and its stand;

¹⁷the hangings of the courtyard, its pillars and its bases, and the curtain for the gate of the courtyard;

¹⁸the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the courtyard and their ropes;

¹⁹the woven garments for ministering in the Holy Place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to serve as priests.’ ”

²⁰Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel departed from Moses’ presence.

²¹And everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him came and brought the LORD’S contribution for the work of the tent of meeting and for all its service, and for the holy garments.

²²Then all whose hearts moved them, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and bracelets, all articles of gold; so did everyone who presented an offering of gold to the LORD.

²³Everyone who was in possession of violet, purple, or scarlet material or fine linen or goats’ hair, or rams’ skins dyed red or fine leather, brought them.

²⁴Everyone who could make a contribution of silver and bronze brought the LORD’S contribution; and everyone who was in possession of acacia wood for any work of the service brought it.

²⁵And all the skilled women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun, in violet, purple, and scarlet material, and in fine linen.

²⁶And all the women whose heart stirred with a skill spun the goats’ hair.

²⁷The rulers, moreover, brought the onyx stones and the stones for setting for the ephod and for the breastpiece;

²⁸and the spice and the oil for the light and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.

²⁹The Israelites, all the men and women, whose heart moved them to bring material for all the work, which the LORD had commanded through Moses to be done, brought a voluntary offering to the LORD.

³⁰Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

³¹And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all craftsmanship;

³²to create designs for working in gold, in silver, and in bronze,

³³and in the cutting of stones for settings and in the carving of wood, so as to perform in every inventive work.

³⁴He also has put in his heart to teach, both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.

³⁵He has filled them with skill to perform every work of an engraver, of a designer, and of an embroiderer, in violet, purple, and in scarlet material, and in fine linen, and of a weaver, as performers of every work and makers of designs.