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The LORD said to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought out of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to their descendants.
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I will send an angel to guide you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
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You are going to a rich and fertile land. But I will not go with you myself, because you are a stubborn people, and I might destroy you on the way."
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When the people heard this, they began to mourn and did not wear jewelry any more.
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For the LORD had commanded Moses to tell them, "You are a stubborn people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I would completely destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you."
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So after they left Mount Sinai, the people of Israel no longer wore jewelry.
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Whenever the people of Israel set up camp, Moses would take the sacred Tent and put it up some distance outside the camp. It was called the Tent of the LORD's presence, and anyone who wanted to consult the LORD would go out to it.
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Whenever Moses went out there, the people would stand at the door of their tents and watch Moses until he entered it.
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After Moses had gone in, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the door of the Tent, and the LORD would speak to Moses from the cloud.
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As soon as the people saw the pillar of cloud at the door of the Tent, they would bow down.
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The LORD would speak with Moses face-to-face, just as someone speaks with a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp. But the young man who was his helper, Joshua son of Nun, stayed in the Tent.
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Moses said to the LORD, "It is true that you have told me to lead these people to that land, but you did not tell me whom you would send with me. You have said that you know me well and are pleased with me.
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Now if you are, tell me your plans, so that I may serve you and continue to please you. Remember also that you have chosen this nation to be your own."
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The LORD said, "I will go with you, and I will give you victory."
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Moses replied, "If you do not go with us, don't make us leave this place.
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How will anyone know that you are pleased with your people and with me if you do not go with us? Your presence with us will distinguish us from any other people on earth."
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The LORD said to Moses, "I will do just as you have asked, because I know you very well and I am pleased with you."
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Then Moses requested, "Please, let me see the dazzling light of your presence."
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The LORD answered, "I will make all my splendor pass before you and in your presence I will pronounce my sacred name. I am the LORD, and I show compassion and pity on those I choose.
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I will not let you see my face, because no one can see me and stay alive,
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but here is a place beside me where you can stand on a rock.
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When the dazzling light of my presence passes by, I will put you in an opening in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
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Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back but not my face."
1
The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
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Get ready tomorrow morning, and come up Mount Sinai to meet me there at the top.
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No one is to come up with you; no one is to be seen on any part of the mountain; and no sheep or cattle are to graze at the foot of the mountain."
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So Moses cut two more stone tablets, and early the next morning he carried them up Mount Sinai, just as the LORD had commanded.
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The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and pronounced his holy name, the LORD.
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The LORD then passed in front of him and called out, "I, the LORD, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness.
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I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin; but I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents."
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Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped.
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He said, "Lord, if you really are pleased with me, I ask you to go with us. These people are stubborn, but forgive our evil and our sin, and accept us as your own people."
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The LORD said to Moses, "I now make a covenant with the people of Israel. In their presence I will do great things such as have never been done anywhere on earth among any of the nations. All the people will see what great things I, the LORD, can do, because I am going to do an awesome thing for you.
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Obey the laws that I am giving you today. I will drive out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as you advance.
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Do not make any treaties with the people of the country into which you are going, because this could be a fatal trap for you.
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Instead, tear down their altars, destroy their sacred pillars, and cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah.
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"Do not worship any other god, because I, the LORD, tolerate no rivals.
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Do not make any treaties with the people of the country, because when they worship their pagan gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you to join them, and you will be tempted to eat the food they offer to their gods.
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Your sons might marry those foreign women, who would lead them to be unfaithful to me and to worship their pagan gods.
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"Do not make gods of metal and worship them.
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"Keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I have commanded you, eat unleavened bread for seven days in the month of Abib, because it was in that month that you left Egypt.
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"Every first-born son and first-born male domestic animal belongs to me,
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but you are to buy back every first-born donkey by offering a lamb in its place. If you do not buy it back, break its neck. Buy back every first-born son. "No one is to appear before me without an offering.
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"You have six days in which to do your work, but do not work on the seventh day, not even during plowing time or harvest.
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"Keep the Harvest Festival when you begin to harvest the first crop of your wheat, and keep the Festival of Shelters in the autumn when you gather your fruit.
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"Three times a year all of your men must come to worship me, the LORD, the God of Israel.
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After I have driven out the nations before you and extended your territory, no one will try to conquer your country during the three festivals.
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"Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. Do not keep until the following morning any part of the animal killed at the Passover Festival.
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"Each year bring to the house of the LORD the first grain that you harvest. "Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk."
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The LORD said to Moses, "Write these words down, because it is on the basis of these words that I am making a covenant with you and with Israel."
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Moses stayed there with the LORD forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant---the Ten Commandments.
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When Moses went down from Mount Sinai carrying the Ten Commandments, his face was shining because he had been speaking with the LORD; but he did not know it.
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Aaron and all the people looked at Moses and saw that his face was shining, and they were afraid to go near him.
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But Moses called them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community went to him, and Moses spoke with them.
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After that, all the people of Israel gathered around him, and Moses gave them all the laws that the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai.
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When Moses had finished speaking with them, he covered his face with a veil.
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Whenever Moses went into the Tent of the LORD's presence to speak to the LORD, he would take the veil off. When he came out, he would tell the people of Israel everything that he had been commanded to say,
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and they would see that his face was shining. Then he would put the veil back on until the next time he went to speak with the LORD.
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Protect me, O God; I trust in you for safety.
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I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from you."
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How excellent are the LORD's faithful people! My greatest pleasure is to be with them.
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Those who rush to other gods bring many troubles on themselves. I will not take part in their sacrifices; I will not worship their gods.
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You, LORD, are all I have, and you give me all I need; my future is in your hands.
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How wonderful are your gifts to me; how good they are!
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I praise the LORD, because he guides me, and in the night my conscience warns me.
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I am always aware of the LORD's presence; he is near, and nothing can shake me.
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And so I am thankful and glad, and I feel completely secure,
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because you protect me from the power of death. I have served you faithfully, and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.
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You will show me the path that leads to life; your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure forever.
1
In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest
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and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.
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As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him.
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He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?"
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"Who are you, Lord?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you persecute," the voice said.
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"But get up and go into the city, where you will be told what you must do."
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The men who were traveling with Saul had stopped, not saying a word; they heard the voice but could not see anyone.
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Saul got up from the ground and opened his eyes, but could not see a thing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.
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For three days he was not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.
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There was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. He had a vision, in which the Lord said to him, "Ananias!" "Here I am, Lord," he answered.
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The Lord said to him, "Get ready and go to Straight Street, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying,
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and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he might see again."
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Ananias answered, "Lord, many people have told me about this man and about all the terrible things he has done to your people in Jerusalem.
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And he has come to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who worship you."
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The Lord said to him, "Go, because I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel.
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And I myself will show him all that he must suffer for my sake."
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So Ananias went, entered the house where Saul was, and placed his hands on him. "Brother Saul," he said, "the Lord has sent me---Jesus himself, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here. He sent me so that you might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
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At once something like fish scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he was able to see again. He stood up and was baptized;
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and after he had eaten, his strength came back. Saul stayed for a few days with the believers in Damascus.
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He went straight to the synagogues and began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God.
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All who heard him were amazed and asked, "Isn't he the one who in Jerusalem was killing those who worship that man Jesus? And didn't he come here for the very purpose of arresting those people and taking them back to the chief priests?"
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But Saul's preaching became even more powerful, and his proofs that Jesus was the Messiah were so convincing that the Jews who lived in Damascus could not answer him.
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After many days had gone by, the Jews met together and made plans to kill Saul,
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but he was told of their plan. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.
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But one night Saul's followers took him and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
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Saul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples. But they would not believe that he was a disciple, and they were all afraid of him.
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Then Barnabas came to his help and took him to the apostles. He explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had spoken to him. He also told them how boldly Saul had preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
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And so Saul stayed with them and went all over Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
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He also talked and disputed with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to kill him.
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When the believers found out about this, they took Saul to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.
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And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord.
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Peter traveled everywhere, and on one occasion he went to visit God's people who lived in Lydda.
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There he met a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had not been able to get out of bed for eight years.
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"Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ makes you well. Get up and make your bed." At once Aeneas got up.
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All the people living in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
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In Joppa there was a woman named Tabitha, who was a believer. (Her name in Greek is Dorcas, meaning "a deer.") She spent all her time doing good and helping the poor.
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At that time she got sick and died. Her body was washed and laid in a room upstairs.
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Joppa was not very far from Lydda, and when the believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him with the message, "Please hurry and come to us."
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So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, he was taken to the room upstairs, where all the widows crowded around him, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was alive.
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Peter put them all out of the room, and knelt down and prayed; then he turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up!" She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
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Peter reached over and helped her get up. Then he called all the believers, including the widows, and presented her alive to them.
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The news about this spread all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
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Peter stayed on in Joppa for many days with a tanner of leather named Simon.
