Bible in Basic English

EXODUS, 25
Ark of the testimony

25:1     And the Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to the children of Israel that they are to make me an offering ; from every man who has the impulse in his heart take an offering for me. 3 And this is the offering you are to take from them : gold and silver and brass ; 4 And blue and purple and red, and the best linen, and goats' hair ; 5 And sheepskins coloured red, and leather, and hard wood ; 6 Oil for the light, spices for the sweet-smelling oil, sweet perfumes for burning ; 7 Beryls and stones of value to be put on the ephod and on the priest's bag. 8 And let them make me a holy place, so that I may be ever present among them. 9 Make the House and everything in it from the designs which I will give you.
25:10     And they are to make an ark of hard wood ; two and a half cubits long, and a cubit and a half wide and high. 11 It is to be plated inside and out with the best gold, with an edge of gold all round it 12 And make four rings of gold for it, to be fixed on its four feet, two rings on one side of it and two on the other. 13 And make rods of the same wood, plating them with gold. 14 And put the rods through the rings at the sides of the ark, for lifting it. 15 The rods are to be kept in the rings, and never taken out. 16 Inside the ark you are to put the record which I will give you. 17 And you are to make a cover of the best gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 18 And at the two ends of the cover you are to make two winged ones of hammered gold, 19 One at one end and one at the other ; the winged ones are to be part of the cover. 20 And their wings are to be outstretched over the cover, and the winged ones are to be opposite one another, facing the cover. 21 And put the cover over the ark, and in the ark the record which I will give you. 22 And there, between the two winged ones on the cover of the ark, I will come to you, face to face, and make clear to you all the orders I have to give you for the children of Israel.
25:23     And you are to make a table of the same wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high, 24 Plated with the best gold, with a gold edge all round it ; 25 And make a frame all round it, as wide as a man's hand, with a gold edge to the frame. 26 And make four gold rings and put them at the four angles, on the four feet of the table ; 27 The rings are to be fixed under the frame to take the rods with which the table is to be lifted. 28 Make rods of the same wood, plated with gold, for lifting the table. 29 And make the table-vessels, the spoons and the cups and the basins for liquids, all of the best gold. 30 And on the table at all times you are to keep my holy bread.
25:31     And you are to make a support for lights, of the best gold ; its base and its pillar are to be of hammered gold ; its cups, its buds, and its flowers are to be made of the same metal. 32 It is to have six branches coming out from its sides ; three branches from one side and three from the other. 33 Every branch having three cups made like almond flowers, every cup with a bud and a flower, on all the branches. 34 And on the pillar, four cups like almond flowers, every one with its bud and its flower: 35 And under every two branches a bud, made with the branch, for all the six branches of it. 36 The buds and the branches are to be made of the same metal ; all together one complete work of hammered gold. 37 Then you are to make its seven vessels for the lights, putting them in their place so that they give light in front of it. 38 And the instruments and trays for use with it are all to be of the best gold. 39 A talent of gold will be needed for it, with all these vessels. 40 And see that you make them from the design which you saw on the mountain.

EXODUS, 26
Pattern of the tabernacle

26:1     And you are to make a House for me, with ten curtains of the best linen, blue and purple and red, worked with designs of winged ones by a good workman. 2 Every curtain is to be twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide, all of the same measure. 3 Five curtains are to be joined together, and the other five are to be joined together. 4 And you are to put twists of blue cord on the edge of the outside curtain of the first group of five, and on the edge of the outside curtain of the second group of five ; 5 Fifty twists on one curtain and fifty on the other, the twists to be opposite one another. 6 Then make fifty gold hooks, joining the curtains together by the hooks, and in this way the House will be made.
26:7     And you are to make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the House, eleven curtains. 8 Every curtain is to be thirty cubits long and four cubits wide, all of the same measure. 9 Five of these curtains are to be joined together, and the other six are to be joined together, the sixth being folded over to make a hanging in front of the tent. 10 And you are to put fifty twists of cord on the edge of the outside curtain of one group, and fifty twists on the edge of the outside curtain of the other group.
26:11     Then make fifty brass hooks and put the hooks into the twists, joining the tent together to make it one. 12 And the folded part which is over of the curtains of the tent, the half-curtain which is folded back, will be hanging down over the back of the House. 13 And the cubit which is over of the ten curtains at the sides will be hanging over the two sides of the House as a cover. 26:14 And then you are to make a cover for the tent, of sheepskins coloured red, and a cover of leather over that.
26:15     And you are to make upright boards of hard wood for the House. 16 Every board is to be ten cubits high and a cubit and a half wide. 17 Every board is to be joined to the one nearest to it by two tongues, and so for every board in the House. 18 These are the boards needed for the house ; twenty boards for the south side, 19 With forty silver bases under the twenty boards, two bases under every board to take its tongues. 20 And twenty boards for the second side of the house on the north, 21 With their forty silver bases, two under every board. 22 And six boards for the back of the House on the west, 23 With two boards for the angles of the House at the back. 24 The two are to be joined together at the base and at the top to one ring, forming the two angles. 25 So there are to be eight boards, with their sixteen silver bases, two bases under every board.
26:26     And make rods of the same wood, five for the boards on the one side, 27 And five for the boards on the other side of the House, and five for the west side of the House at the back. 28 And the middle rod is to go through the rings of all the boards from end to end. 29 And the boards are to be plated with gold, having gold rings for the rods to go through : and the rods are to be plated with gold. 30 And you are to make the House from the design which you saw on the mountain.
26:31     And you are to make a veil of the best linen, blue and purple and red, worked with designs of winged ones by a good workman: 32 Hanging it by gold hooks from four pillars of wood, plated with gold and fixed in silver bases. 33 And you are to put up the veil under the hooks, and put inside it the ark of the law : the veil is to be a division between the holy place and the most holy. 34 You are to put the cover on the ark of the law, inside the most holy place. 35 And outside the veil you are to put the table, and the support for the lights opposite the table on the south side of the House ; and the table is to be on the north side.
26:36     And you are to make a curtain for the doorway of the Tent, of the best linen with needlework of blue and purple and red. 37 And make five pillars for the curtain, of hard wood plated with gold ; their hooks are to be of gold and their bases of brass.

EXODUS, 27
The alter

27:1     And make an altar of hard wood, a square altar, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high. 2 Put horns at the four angles of it, made of the same, plating it all with brass. 3 And make all its vessels, the baskets for taking away the dust of the fire, the spades and basins and meat-hooks and fire-trays, of brass. 4 And make a network of brass, with four brass rings at its four angles. 5 And put the network under the shelf round the altar so that the net comes half-way up the altar. 6 And make rods for the altar, of hard wood, plated with brass. 7 And put the rods through the rings at the two opposite sides of the altar, for lifting it. 8 The altar is to be hollow, boarded in with wood ; make it from the design which you saw on the mountain.
27:9     And let there be an open space round the House, with hangings for its south side of the best linen, a hundred cubits long. 10 Their twenty pillars and their twenty bases are to be of brass ; the hooks of the pillars and their bands are to be of silver. 11 And on the north side in the same way, hangings a hundred cubits long, with twenty pillars of brass on bases of brass ; their hooks and their bands are to be of silver. 12 And for the open space on the west side, the hangings are to be fifty cubits wide, with ten pillars and ten bases ; 13 And on the east side the space is to be fifty cubits wide. 14 On the one side of the doorway will be hangings fifteen cubits long, with three pillars and three bases ; 15 And on the other side, hangings fifteen cubits long, with three pillars and three bases. 16 And across the doorway, a veil of twenty cubits of the best linen, made of needlework of blue and purple and red, with four pillars and four bases. 17 All the pillars round the open space are to have silver bands, with hooks of silver and bases of brass. 18 The open space is to be a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, with sides five cubits high, curtained with the best linen, with bases of brass. 19 All the instruments for the work of the House, and all its nails, and the nails of the open space are to be of brass.
27:20     Give orders to the children of Israel to give you clear olive oil for the lights, so that a light may be burning there at all times. 21 Let Aaron and his sons put this in order, evening and morning, before the Lord, inside the Tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the ark ; this is to be an order for ever, from generation to generation, to be kept by the children of Israel.

EXODUS, 28
Garments of the priests

28:1     Now let Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, come near from among the children of Israel, so that they may be my priests, even Aaron, and Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, his sons. 2 And make holy robes for Aaron your brother, so that he may be clothed with glory and honour. 3 Give orders to all the wise-hearted workmen, whom I have made full of the spirit of wisdom, to make robes for Aaron, so that he may be made holy as my priest. 4 This is what they are to make : a priest's bag, an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of coloured needlework, a head-dress, and a linen band ; they are to make holy robes for Aaron your brother and for his sons, so that they may do the work of priests for me.
28:5     They are to take the gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen, 6 And make the ephod of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen, the work of a designer. 7 It is to have two bands stitched to it at the top of the arms, joining it together. 8 And the beautifully worked band, which goes on it, is to be of the same work and the same material, of gold and blue and purple and red and twisted linen-work. 9 You are to take two beryl stones, on which the names of the children of Israel are to be cut: 10 Six names on the one stone and six on the other, in the order of their birth. 11 With the work of a jeweller, like the cutting of a stamp, the names of the children of Israel are to be cut on them, and they are to be fixed in twisted frames of gold. 12 And the two stones are to be placed on the ephod, over the arm-holes, to be stones of memory for the children of Israel : Aaron will have their names on his arms when he goes in before the Lord, to keep the Lord in mind of them. 13 And you are to make twisted frames of gold ; 14 And two chains of the best gold, twisted like cords ; and have the chains fixed on to the frames.
28:15     And make a priest's bag for giving decisions, designed like the ephod, made of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen. 16 It is to be square, folded in two, a hand-stretch long and a hand-stretch wide. 17 And on it you are to put four lines of jewels ; the first line is to be a cornelian, a chrysolite, and an emerald; 18 The second, a ruby, a sapphire, and an onyx; 19 The third, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20 The fourth, a topaz, a beryl, and a jasper; they are to be fixed in twisted frames of gold. 21 The jewels are to be twelve in number, for the names of the children of Israel ; every jewel having the name of one of the twelve tribes cut on it as on a stamp. 22 And you are to make two chains of gold, twisted like cords, to be fixed to the priest's bag. 23 And put two gold rings on the two ends of the bag. 24 Put the two gold chains on the two rings at the ends of the bag ; 25 Joining the other ends of the chains to the gold frames and putting them on the front of the ephod, at the top of the arms. 26 Then make two gold rings and put them on the lower ends of the bag, at the edge of it on the inner side nearest to the ephod. 27 And make two more gold rings and put them on the front of the ephod at the top of the arms, at the join, over the worked band: 28 So that the rings on the bag may be fixed to the rings of the ephod by a blue cord and on to the band of the ephod, so that the bag may not come loose from the ephod. 29 And so Aaron will have the names of the children of Israel on the priest's bag over his heart whenever he goes into the holy place, to keep the memory of them before the Lord. 30 And in the bag you are to put the Urim and Thummim, so that they may be on Aaron's heart whenever he goes in before the Lord ; and Aaron may have the power of making decisions for the children of Israel before the Lord at all times.
28:31     The robe which goes with the ephod is to be made all of blue ; 32 With a hole at the top, in the middle of it ; the hole is to be edged with a band to make it strong like the hole in the coat of a fighting-man, so that it may not be broken open. 33 And round the skirts of it put fruits in blue and purple and red, with bells of gold between ; 34 A gold bell and a fruit in turn all round the skirts of the robe. 35 Aaron is to put it on for his holy work ; and the sound of it will be clear, when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, keeping him safe from death.
28:36     You are to make a plate of the best gold, cutting on it, as on a stamp, these words : HOLY TO THE LORD. 37 Put a blue cord on it and put it on the front of the twisted head-dress : 38 And it will be over Aaron's brow, so that Aaron will be responsible for any error in all the holy offerings made by the children of Israel ; it will be on his brow at all times, so that their offerings may be pleasing to the Lord.
28:39     The coat is to be made of the best linen, worked in squares ; and you are to make a head-dress of linen, and a linen band worked in needlework.
28:40     And for Aaron's sons you are to make coats, and bands, and head-dresses, so that they may be clothed with glory and honour. 41 These you are to put on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons, putting oil on them, separating them and making them holy, to do the work of priests to me. 42 And you are to make them linen trousers, covering their bodies from the middle to the knee ; 43 Aaron and his sons are to put these on whenever they go into the Tent of meeting or come near the altar, when they are doing the work of the holy place, so that they may be free from any sin causing death : this is to be an order for him and his seed after him for ever.

EXODUS, 29
Ordination of the priests

29:1     This is what you are to do to make them holy, to do the work of priests to me : Take one young ox and two male sheep, without any mark on them, 2 And unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes on which oil has been put, made of the best bread-meal ; 3 Put these in a basket and take them, with the ox and the two sheep. 4 And let Aaron and his sons come to the door of the Tent of meeting, and there let them be washed with water. 5 Take the robes, and put the coat and the dress and the ephod and the priest's bag on Aaron ; put the band of needlework round him, 6 And let the head-dress be placed on his head and the holy crown on the head-dress. 7 Then take the oil and put it on his head. 8 And take his sons and put their robes on them ; 9 And put the linen bands round Aaron and his sons, and the head-dresses on them, to make them priests by my order for ever : so you are to make Aaron and his sons holy to me.
29:10     Then let the ox be taken in front of the Tent of meeting : and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head. 11 And you are to put the ox to death before the Lord at the door of the Tent of meeting. 12 Then take some of the blood of the ox, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, draining out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 13 And take all the fat covering the inside of the ox, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and let them be burned on the altar ; 14 But the flesh of the ox and its skin and its waste parts are to be burned outside the circle of the tents, for it is a sin-offering.
29:15     Then take one of the sheep, and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head. 16 Then let it be put to death, so that the sides of the altar are marked with its blood. 17 Then the sheep is to be cut up into its parts, and after washing its legs and its inside parts, you are to put them with the parts and the head, 18 And let them all be burned on the altar as a burned offering to the Lord : a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
29:19     Then take the other sheep ; and after Aaron and his sons have put their hands on its head, 20 You are to put the sheep to death, and take some of its blood and put it on the point of Aaron's right ear, and of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and the great toes of their right feet, dropping the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar. 21 Then take some of the blood on the altar, and the oil, and put it on Aaron and his robes and on his sons and on their robes, so that he and his robes and his sons and their robes may be made holy.
29:22     Then take the fat of the sheep, the fat tail, the fat covering the insides, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and the right leg ; for by the offering of this sheep they are to be marked out as priests: 23 And take one bit of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one thin cake out of the basket of unleavened bread which is before the Lord: 24 And put them all on the hands of Aaron and of his sons, to be waved for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 Then take them from their hands, and let them be burned on the burned offering on the altar, a sweet smell before the Lord, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
29:26     Then take the breast of Aaron's sheep, waving it before the Lord ; and it is to be your part of the offering. 27 So you are to make holy the breast of the sheep which is waved and the leg which is lifted up on high, that is, of the sheep which is offered for Aaron and his sons ; 28 And it will be their part as a right for ever from the children of Israel, it is a special offering from the children of Israel, made from their peace-offerings, a special offering lifted up to the Lord.
29:29     And Aaron's holy robes will be used by his sons after him ; they will put them on when they are made priests. 30 For seven days the son who becomes priest in his place will put them on when he comes into the Tent of meeting to do the work of the holy place.
29:31     Then take the sheep of the wave offering and let its flesh be cooked in water in a holy place. 32 And let Aaron and his sons make a meal of it, with the bread in the basket, at the door of the Tent of meeting. 33 All those things which were used as offerings to take away sin, and to make them holy to be priests, they may have for food : but no one who is not a priest may have them, for they are holy food. 34 And if any of the flesh of the offering or of the bread is over till the morning, let it be burned with fire ; it is not to be used for food, for it is holy.
29:35     All these things you are to do to Aaron and his sons as I have given you orders : for seven days the work of making them priests is to go on. 36 Every day an ox is to be offered as a sin-offering, to take away sins : and by this offering on it, you will make the altar clean from sin ; and you are to put oil on it and make it holy. 37 For seven days you are to make offerings for the altar and make it holy, so that it may become completely holy, and anything touching it will become holy.
29:38     Now this is the offering which you are to make on the altar : two lambs in their first year, every day regularly. 39 One lamb is to be offered in the morning and the other in the evening: 40 And with the one lamb, a tenth part of an ephah of the best meal, mixed with a fourth part of a hin of clear oil ; and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 And the other lamb is to be offered in the evening, and with it the same meal offering and drink offering, for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 42 This is to be a regular burned offering made from generation to generation, at the door of the Tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will come face to face with you and have talk with you. 43 There I will come face to face with the children of Israel, and the Tent will be made holy by my glory 44 I will make holy the Tent of meeting and the altar : and Aaron and his sons I will make holy, to be my priests 45 Among the children of Israel I will make my living-place, and I will be their God. 46 And they will see that I am the Lord their God, who took them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might be ever with them : I am the Lord their God.

EXODUS, 30
Atonement money

30:1     And you are to make an altar for the burning of perfume ; of hard wood let it be made. 2 The altar is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high, and its horns are to be made of the same. 3 It is to be plated with the best gold, the top of it and the sides and the horns, with an edging of gold all round it. 4 Under the edge on the two opposite sides, you are to make two gold rings, to take the rods for lifting it. 5 And make these rods of the same wood, plating them with gold. 6 And let it be placed in front of the veil before the ark of the law, before the cover which is over the law, where I will come face to face with you. 7 And on this altar sweet spices are to be burned by Aaron every morning when he sees to the lights. 8 And every evening, when he puts the lights up in their places, the spices are to be burned, a sweet-smelling smoke going up before the Lord from generation to generation for ever. 9 No strange perfume, no burned offering or meal offering, and no drink offering is to be offered on it. 10 And once every year Aaron is to make its horns clean : with the blood of the sin-offering he is to make it clean once every year from generation to generation : it is most holy to the Lord.
30:11     And the Lord said to Moses, 12 When you are taking the number of the children of Israel, let every man who is numbered give to the Lord a price for his life, so that no disease may come on them when they are numbered. 13 And this is what they are to give ; let every man who is numbered give half a shekel, by the scale of the holy place : (the shekel being valued at twenty gerahs:) this money is an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, is to give an offering to the Lord. 15 The man of wealth is to give no more and the poor man no less than the half-shekel of silver, when the offering is made to the Lord as the price for your lives. 16 And you are to take this money from the children of Israel to be used for the work of the Tent of meeting, to keep the memory of the children of Israel before the Lord and to be the price of your lives.
30:17     And the Lord said to Moses, 18 You are to make a brass washing-vessel, with a brass base ; and put it between the Tent of meeting and the altar, with water in it ; 19 That it may be used by Aaron and his sons for washing their hands and feet ; 20 Whenever they go into the Tent of meeting they are to be washed with water, to keep them from death ; and whenever they come near to do the work of the altar, or to make an offering by fire to the Lord, 21 Their hands and feet are to be washed. so that they may be safe from death : this is an order to them for ever ; to him and his seed from generation to generation.
30:22     And the Lord said to Moses, 23 Take the best spices, five hundred shekels' weight of liquid myrrh, and of sweet cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus, 24 And of cassia, five hundred shekels' weight measured by the scale of the holy place, and of olive oil a hin: 25 And make these into a holy oil, a perfume made by the art of the perfume-maker ; it is to be a holy oil. 26 This oil is to be put on the Tent of meeting, and on the ark of the law, 27 And on the table and all its vessels, and on the support for the lights, with its vessels, and on the altar for burning spices, 28 And on the altar of burned offerings with its vessels, and on the washing-vessel and its base. 29 And you are to make them most holy ; anything touching them will become holy. 30 And put the oil on Aaron and his sons, making them holy to do the work of priests to me. 31 And say to the children of Israel, This is to be the Lord's holy oil, from generation to generation. 32 It is not to be used for man's flesh, and no other is to be made like it : holy it is, and you are to keep it holy. 33 Whoever makes any like it, or puts it on one who is not a priest, will be cut off from his people.
30:34     And the Lord said to Moses, Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, with the best frankincense, in equal weights ; 35 And make from them a perfume, such as is made by the art of the perfume-maker, mixed with salt, and clean and holy. 36 And put some of it, crushed very small, in front of the ark in the Tent of meeting, where I will come face to face with you ; it is to be most holy. 37 You are not to make any perfume like it for yourselves : it is to be kept holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes any like it, for its sweet smell, will be cut off from his people.

EXODUS, 31
Make what is commanded

31:1     And the Lord said to Moses, 2 I have made selection of Bezalel, the son of Uri, by name, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3 And I have given him the spirit of God and made him wise and full of knowledge and expert in every sort of handwork, 4 To do all sorts of delicate work in gold and silver and brass ; 5 In cutting stones for framing, and to do every form of woodwork. 6 And I have made selection of Oholiab with him, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan ; and in the hearts of all who are wise I have put the knowledge to make whatever I have given you orders to have made ; 7 The Tent of meeting, and the ark of the law, and the cover which is on it, and all the things for the tent, 8 And the table with its vessels, and the holy light-support with all its vessels, and the altar for the burning of spices, 9 And the altar of burned offerings with all its vessels, and the washing-vessel with its base, 10 And the robes of needlework, the holy robes for Aaron and for his sons, for their use when acting as priests, 11 And the holy oil, and the perfume of sweet spices for the holy place ; they will do whatever I have given you orders to have done.
31:12     And the Lord said to Moses, 13 Say to the children of Israel that they are to keep my Sabbaths ; for the Sabbath day is a sign between me and you through all your generations ; so that you may see that I am the Lord who makes you holy. 14 So you are to keep the Sabbath as a holy day ; and anyone not honouring it will certainly be put to death : whoever does any work on that day will be cut off from his people. 15 Six days may work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord ; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 And the children of Israel are to keep the Sabbath holy, from generation to generation, by an eternal agreement. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever ; because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he took his rest and had pleasure in it.
31:18     And when his talk with Moses on Mount Sinai was ended, he gave him the two stones of the law, two stones on which was the writing made by the finger of God.

EXODUS, 32
Who is on the Lord's side

32:1     And when the people saw that Moses was a long time coming down from the mountain, they all came to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him. 2 Then Aaron said to them, Take off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters, and give them to me. 3 And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron. 4 And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox : and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron saw this, he made an altar before it, and made a public statement, saying, Tomorrow there will be a feast to the Lord. 6 So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace-offerings ; and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure.
32:7     And the Lord said to Moses, Go down quickly ; for your people, whom you took out of the land of Egypt, are turned to evil ways ; 8 Even now they are turned away from the rule I gave them, and have made themselves a metal ox and given worship to it and offerings, saying, This is your god, O Israel, who took you up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, I have been watching this people, and I see that they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now do not get in my way, for my wrath is burning against them ; I will send destruction on them, but of you I will make a great nation.
32:11     But Moses made prayer to God, saying, Lord, why is your wrath burning against your people whom you took out of the land of Egypt, with great power and with the strength of your hand ? 12 Why let the Egyptians say, He took them out to an evil fate, to put them to death on the mountains, cutting them off from the earth ? Let your wrath be turned away from them, and send not this evil on your people. 13 Have in mind Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you gave your oath, saying, I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and all this land will I give to your seed, as I said, to be their heritage for ever. 14 So the Lord let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment on his people.
32:15     Then Moses came down the mountain with the two stones of the law in his hand; the stones had writing on their two sides, on the front and on the back. 16 The stones were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, cut on the stones. 17 Now when the noise and the voices of the people came to the ears of Joshua, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the tents. 18 And Moses said, It is not the voice of men who are overcoming in the fight, or the cry of those who have been overcome; it is the sound of songs which comes to my ear. 19 And when he came near the tents he saw the image of the ox, and the people dancing ; and in his wrath Moses let the stones go from his hands, and they were broken at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the ox which they had made, burning it in the fire and crushing it to powder, and he put it in the water and made the children of Israel take a drink of it.
32:21     And Moses said to Aaron, What did the people do to you that you let this great sin come on them ? 22 And Aaron said, Let not my lord be angry ; you have seen how the purposes of this people are evil. 23 For they said to me, Make us a god to go before us : as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has come to him. 24 Then I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let him take it off ; so they gave it to me, and I put it in the fire, and this image of an ox came out.
32:25     And Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them loose to their shame before their haters : 26 Then Moses took his place at the way into the tents, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi came together to him. 27 And he said to them, This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel : Let every man take his sword at his side, and go from one end of the tents to the other, putting to death his brother and his friend and his neighbour. 28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses said ; and about three thousand of the people were put to death that day. 29 And Moses said, You have made yourselves priests to the Lord this day ; for every one of you has made the offering of his son and his brother ; the blessing of the Lord is on you this day.
32:30     And on the day after, Moses said to the people, Great has been your sin : but I will go up to the Lord, and see if I may get forgiveness for your sin. 31 Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold ; 32 But now, if you will give them forgiveness -- but if not, let my name be taken out of your book. 33 And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has done evil against me will be taken out of my book. 34 But now, go, take the people into that place of which I have given you word ; see, my angel will go before you : but when the time of my judging has come, I will send punishment on them for their sin.
32:35     And the Lord sent punishment on the people because they gave worship to the ox which Aaron made.
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