Feb 7th

and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day Yahweh will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

And you shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or surely shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and set the people apart as holy, and they washed their garments.

And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

So it happened on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because Yahweh descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.

And the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder; then Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.

And Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to see, and many of them perish.

Also let the priests who come near to Yahweh set themselves apart as holy, lest Yahweh break out against them.”

And Moses said to Yahweh, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain, and set it apart as holy.’ ”

Then Yahweh said to him, “Go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to Yahweh, lest He break out against them.”

So Moses went down to the people and told them.

Then God spoke all these words, saying,

¶“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¶“You shall have no other gods before Me.

¶“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

¶“You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

¶“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave or your cattle or your sojourner who is within your gates.

For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

¶“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

¶“You shall not murder.

¶“You shall not commit adultery.

¶“You shall not steal.

¶“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¶“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male slave or his female slave or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and the people perceived it, and they shook and stood at a distance.

Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself, and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.”

And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be with you, so that you may not sin.”

So the people stood at a distance, but Moses came near the dense gloom where God was.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.

You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.

And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’

“Now these are the judgments which you are to set before them:

“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.

If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.

If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone.

But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’

then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. Then his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.

“And if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.

If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his treachery to her.

And if he designates her for his son, he shall do to her according to the custom of daughters.

If he takes for himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.

And if he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.

If, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him by deceit, you shall take him even from My altar, that he may die.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom, which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’

Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’

Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

Now it happened that when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples,

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas;

and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him.

But they were saying, “Not during the festival, lest a riot occur among the people.”

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper,

a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table.

But when the disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?

For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good work to Me.

For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me.

For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.