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The whole Israelite community left the desert of Sin, moving from one place to another at the command of the LORD. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there to drink.
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They complained to Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses answered, "Why are you complaining? Why are you putting the LORD to the test?"
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But the people were very thirsty and continued to complain to Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"
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Moses prayed earnestly to the LORD and said, "What can I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."
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The LORD said to Moses, "Take some of the leaders of Israel with you, and go on ahead of the people. Take along the stick with which you struck the Nile.
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I will stand before you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." Moses did so in the presence of the leaders of Israel.
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The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites complained and put the LORD to the test when they asked, "Is the LORD with us or not?"
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The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
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Moses said to Joshua, "Pick out some men to go and fight the Amalekites tomorrow. I will stand on top of the hill holding the stick that God told me to carry."
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Joshua did as Moses commanded him and went out to fight the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
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As long as Moses held up his arms, the Israelites won, but when he put his arms down, the Amalekites started winning.
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When Moses' arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down.
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In this way Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites.
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Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write an account of this victory, so that it will be remembered. Tell Joshua that I will completely destroy the Amalekites."
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Moses built an altar and named it "The LORD is my Banner."
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He said, "Hold high the banner of the LORD! The LORD will continue to fight against the Amalekites forever!"
1
Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and the people of Israel when he led them out of Egypt.
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So he came to Moses, bringing with him Moses' wife Zipporah, who had been left behind,
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and Gershom and Eliezer, her two sons. (Moses had said, "I have been a foreigner in a strange land"; so he had named one son Gershom.
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He had also said, "The God of my father helped me and saved me from being killed by the king of Egypt"; so he had named the other son Eliezer. )
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Jethro came with Moses' wife and her two sons into the desert where Moses was camped at the holy mountain.
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He had sent word to Moses that they were coming,
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so Moses went out to meet him, bowed before him, and kissed him. They asked about each other's health and then went into Moses' tent.
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Moses told Jethro everything that the LORD had done to the king and the people of Egypt in order to rescue the Israelites. He also told him about the hardships the people had faced on the way and how the LORD had saved them.
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When Jethro heard all this, he was happy
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and said, "Praise the LORD, who saved you from the king and the people of Egypt! Praise the LORD, who saved his people from slavery!
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Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods, because he did this when the Egyptians treated the Israelites with such contempt."
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Then Jethro brought an offering to be burned whole and other sacrifices to be offered to God; and Aaron and all the leaders of Israel went with him to eat the sacred meal as an act of worship.
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The next day Moses was settling disputes among the people, and he was kept busy from morning till night.
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When Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do, he asked, "What is all this that you are doing for the people? Why are you doing this all alone, with people standing here from morning till night to consult you?"
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Moses answered, "I must do this because the people come to me to learn God's will.
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When two people have a dispute, they come to me, and I decide which one of them is right, and I tell them God's commands and laws."
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Then Jethro said, "You are not doing this right.
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You will wear yourself out and these people as well. This is too much for you to do alone.
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Now let me give you some good advice, and God will be with you. It is right for you to represent the people before God and bring their disputes to him.
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You should teach them God's commands and explain to them how they should live and what they should do.
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But in addition, you should choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They must be God-fearing men who can be trusted and who cannot be bribed.
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Let them serve as judges for the people on a permanent basis. They can bring all the difficult cases to you, but they themselves can decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you, as they share your burden.
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If you do this, as God commands, you will not wear yourself out, and all these people can go home with their disputes settled."
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Moses took Jethro's advice
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and chose capable men from among all the Israelites. He appointed them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.
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They served as judges for the people on a permanent basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding the smaller disputes themselves.
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Then Moses said good-bye to Jethro, and Jethro went back home.
1
The people of Israel left Rephidim, and on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai,
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and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God. The LORD called to him from the mountain and told him to say to the Israelites, Jacob's descendants:
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"You saw what I, the LORD, did to the Egyptians and how I carried you as an eagle carries her young on her wings, and brought you here to me.
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Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,
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a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests."
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So Moses went down and called the leaders of the people together and told them everything that the LORD had commanded him.
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Then all the people answered together, "We will do everything that the LORD has said," and Moses reported this to the LORD.
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The LORD said to Moses, "I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on." Moses told the LORD what the people had answered,
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and the LORD said to him, "Go to the people and tell them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves for worship. They must wash their clothes
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and be ready the day after tomorrow. On that day I will come down on Mount Sinai, where all the people can see me.
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Mark a boundary around the mountain that the people must not cross, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even get near it. If any of you set foot on it, you are to be put to death;
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you must either be stoned or shot with arrows, without anyone touching you. This applies to both people and animals; they must be put to death. But when the trumpet is blown, then the people are to go up to the mountain."
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Then Moses came down the mountain and told the people to get ready for worship. So they washed their clothes,
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and Moses told them, "Be ready by the day after tomorrow and don't have sexual intercourse in the meantime."
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On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud appeared on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled with fear.
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Moses led them out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
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All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD had come down on it in fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and all the people trembled violently.
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The sound of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder.
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The LORD came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up
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and the LORD said to him, "Go down and warn the people not to cross the boundary to come and look at me; if they do, many of them will die.
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Even the priests who come near me must purify themselves, or I will punish them."
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Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up, because you commanded us to consider the mountain sacred and to mark a boundary around it."
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The LORD replied, "Go down and bring Aaron back with you. But the priests and the people must not cross the boundary to come up to me, or I will punish them."
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Moses then went down to the people and told them what the LORD had said.
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God spoke, and these were his words:
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"I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.
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"Worship no god but me.
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"Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth.
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Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the LORD your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.
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But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws.
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"Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the LORD your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.
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"Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy.
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You have six days in which to do your work,
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but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work---neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country.
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In six days I, the LORD, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.
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"Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.
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"Do not commit murder.
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"Do not commit adultery.
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"Do not accuse anyone falsely.
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"Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns."
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When the people heard the thunder and the trumpet blast and saw the lightning and the smoking mountain, they trembled with fear and stood a long way off.
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They said to Moses, "If you speak to us, we will listen; but we are afraid that if God speaks to us, we will die."
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Moses replied, "Don't be afraid; God has only come to test you and make you keep on obeying him, so that you will not sin."
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But the people continued to stand a long way off, and only Moses went near the dark cloud where God was.
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The LORD commanded Moses to tell the Israelites: "You have seen how I, the LORD, have spoken to you from heaven.
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Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gold to be worshiped in addition to me.
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Make an altar of earth for me, and on it sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as fellowship offerings. In every place that I set aside for you to worship me, I will come to you and bless you.
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If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stones, because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for my use.
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Do not build an altar for me with steps leading up to it; if you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps.
1
One day Peter and John went to the Temple at three o'clock in the afternoon, the hour for prayer.
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There at the Beautiful Gate, as it was called, was a man who had been lame all his life. Every day he was carried to the gate to beg for money from the people who were going into the Temple.
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When he saw Peter and John going in, he begged them to give him something.
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They looked straight at him, and Peter said, "Look at us!"
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So he looked at them, expecting to get something from them.
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But Peter said to him, "I have no money at all, but I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk!"
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Then he took him by his right hand and helped him up. At once the man's feet and ankles became strong;
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he jumped up, stood on his feet, and started walking around. Then he went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God.
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The people there saw him walking and praising God,
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and when they recognized him as the beggar who had sat at the Beautiful Gate, they were all surprised and amazed at what had happened to him.
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As the man held on to Peter and John in Solomon's Porch, as it was called, the people were amazed and ran to them.
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When Peter saw the people, he said to them, "Fellow Israelites, why are you surprised at this, and why do you stare at us? Do you think that it was by means of our own power or godliness that we made this man walk?
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The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has given divine glory to his Servant Jesus. But you handed him over to the authorities, and you rejected him in Pilate's presence, even after Pilate had decided to set him free.
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He was holy and good, but you rejected him, and instead you asked Pilate to do you the favor of turning loose a murderer.
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You killed the one who leads to life, but God raised him from death---and we are witnesses to this.
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It was the power of his name that gave strength to this lame man. What you see and know was done by faith in his name; it was faith in Jesus that has made him well, as you can all see.
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"And now, my friends, I know that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was due to your ignorance.
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God announced long ago through all the prophets that his Messiah had to suffer; and he made it come true in this way.
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Repent, then, and turn to God, so that he will forgive your sins. If you do,
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times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord, and he will send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you.
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He must remain in heaven until the time comes for all things to be made new, as God announced through his holy prophets of long ago.
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For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people. You are to obey everything that he tells you to do.
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Anyone who does not obey that prophet shall be separated from God's people and destroyed.'
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And all the prophets who had a message, including Samuel and those who came after him, also announced what has been happening these days.
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The promises of God through his prophets are for you, and you share in the covenant which God made with your ancestors. As he said to Abraham, 'Through your descendants I will bless all the people on earth.'
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And so God chose his Servant and sent him to you first, to bless you by making every one of you turn away from your wicked ways."
