Exodus:17-20

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* And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin , after their journeys , according to the commandment of the LORD , and pitched in Rephidim : and there was no water for the people to drink . * Why the people did chide with Moses , and said , Give us water that we may drink . And Moses said to them , Why chide you with me ? why do you tempt the LORD ? * And the people thirsted there for water ; and the people murmured against Moses , and said , Why is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt , to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst ? * And Moses cried to the LORD , saying , What shall I do to this people ? they be almost ready to stone me . * And the LORD said to Moses , Go on before the people , and take with you of the elders of Israel ; and your rod , with which you smote the river , take in your hand , and go . * Behold , I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb ; and you shall smite the rock , and there shall come water out of it , that the people may drink . And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel . * And he called the name of the place Massah , and Meribah , because of the chiding of the children of Israel , and because they tempted the LORD , saying , Is the LORD among us , or not ? * Then came Amalek , and fought with Israel in Rephidim . * And Moses said to Joshua , Choose us out men , and go out , fight with Amalek : to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand . * So Joshua did as Moses had said to him , and fought with Amalek : and Moses , Aaron , and Hur went up to the top of the hill . * And it came to pass , when Moses held up his hand , that Israel prevailed : and when he let down his hand , Amalek prevailed . * But Moses hands were heavy ; and they took a stone , and put it under him , and he sat thereon ; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands , the one on the one side , and the other on the other side ; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun . * And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword . * And the LORD said to Moses , Write this for a memorial in a book , and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua : for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven . * And Moses built an altar , and called the name of it Jehovahnissi : * For he said , Because the LORD has sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation . * When Jethro , the priest of Midian , Moses 'father in law , heard of all that God had done for Moses , and for Israel his people , and that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt ; * Then Jethro , Moses 'father in law , took Zipporah , Moses 'wife , after he had sent her back , * And her two sons ; of which the name of the one was Gershom ; for he said , I have been an alien in a strange land : * And the name of the other was Eliezer ; for the God of my father , said he , was my help , and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh : * And Jethro , Moses 'father in law , came with his sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness , where he encamped at the mount of God : * And he said to Moses , I your father in law Jethro am come to you , and your wife , and her two sons with her . * And Moses went out to meet his father in law , and did obeisance , and kissed him ; and they asked each other of their welfare ; and they came into the tent . * And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel ' sake , and all the travail that had come on them by the way , and how the LORD delivered them . * And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel , whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians . * And Jethro said , Blessed be the LORD , who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians , and out of the hand of Pharaoh , who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians . * Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods : for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them . * And Jethro , Moses 'father in law , took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God : and Aaron came , and all the elders of Israel , to eat bread with Moses 'father in law before God . * And it came to pass on the morrow , that Moses sat to judge the people : and the people stood by Moses from the morning to the evening . * And when Moses 'father in law saw all that he did to the people , he said , What is this thing that you do to the people ? why sit you yourself alone , and all the people stand by you from morning to even ? * And Moses said to his father in law , Because the people come to me to inquire of God : * When they have a matter , they come to me ; and I judge between one and another , and I do make them know the statutes of God , and his laws . * And Moses 'father in law said to him , The thing that you do is not good . * You will surely wear away , both you , and this people that is with you : for this thing is too heavy for you ; you are not able to perform it yourself alone . * Listen now to my voice , I will give you counsel , and God shall be with you : Be you for the people to God-ward , that you may bring the causes to God : * And you shall teach them ordinances and laws , and shall show them the way wherein they must walk , and the work that they must do . * Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men , such as fear God , men of truth , hating covetousness ; and place such over them , to be rulers of thousands , and rulers of hundreds , rulers of fifties , and rulers of tens : * And let them judge the people at all seasons : and it shall be , that every great matter they shall bring to you , but every small matter they shall judge : so shall it be easier for yourself , and they shall bear the burden with you . * If you shall do this thing , and God command you so , then you shall be able to endure , and all this people shall also go to their place in peace . * So Moses listened to the voice of his father in law , and did all that he had said . * And Moses chose able men out of all Israel , and made them heads over the people , rulers of thousands , rulers of hundreds , rulers of fifties , and rulers of tens . * And they judged the people at all seasons : the hard causes they brought to Moses , but every small matter they judged themselves . * And Moses let his father in law depart ; and he went his way into his own land . * In the third month , when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt , the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai . * For they were departed from Rephidim , and were come to the desert of Sinai , and had pitched in the wilderness ; and there Israel camped before the mount . * And Moses went up to God , and the LORD called to him out of the mountain , saying , Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob , and tell the children of Israel ; * You have seen what I did to the Egyptians , and how I bore you on eagles 'wings , and brought you to myself . * Now therefore , if you will obey my voice indeed , and keep my covenant , then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people : for all the earth is mine : * And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests , and an holy nation . These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel . * And Moses came and called for the elders of the people , and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him . * And all the people answered together , and said , All that the LORD has spoken we will do . And Moses returned the words of the people to the LORD . * And the LORD said to Moses , See , I come to you in a thick cloud , that the people may hear when I speak with you , and believe you for ever . And Moses told the words of the people to the LORD . * And the LORD said to Moses , Go to the people , and sanctify them to day and to morrow , and let them wash their clothes , * And be ready against the third day : for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people on mount Sinai . * And you shall set bounds to the people round about , saying , Take heed to yourselves , that you go not up into the mount , or touch the border of it : whoever touches the mount shall be surely put to death : * There shall not an hand touch it , but he shall surely be stoned , or shot through ; whether it be beast or man , it shall not live : when the trumpet sounds long , they shall come up to the mount . * And Moses went down from the mount to the people , and sanctified the people ; and they washed their clothes . * And he said to the people , Be ready against the third day : come not at your wives . * And it came to pass on the third day in the morning , that there were thunders and lightning , and a thick cloud on the mount , and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled . * And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God ; and they stood at the nether part of the mount . * And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke , because the LORD descended on it in fire : and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace , and the whole mount quaked greatly . * And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long , and waxed louder and louder , Moses spoke , and God answered him by a voice . * And the LORD came down on mount Sinai , on the top of the mount : and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount ; and Moses went up . * And the LORD said to Moses , Go down , charge the people , lest they break through to the LORD to gaze , and many of them perish . * And let the priests also , which come near to the LORD , sanctify themselves , lest the LORD break forth on them . * And Moses said to the LORD , The people cannot come up to mount Sinai : for you charged us , saying , Set bounds about the mount , and sanctify it . * And the LORD said to him , Away , get you down , and you shall come up , you , and Aaron with you : but let not the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD , lest he break forth on them . * So Moses went down to the people , and spoke to them . * And God spoke all these words , saying , * I am the LORD your God , which have brought you out of the land of Egypt , out of the house of bondage . * You shall have no other gods before me . * You shall not make to you any graven image , or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above , or that is in the earth beneath , or that is in the water under the earth . * You shall not bow down yourself to them , nor serve them : for I the LORD your God am a jealous God , visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me ; * And showing mercy to thousands of them that love me , and keep my commandments . * You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain ; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain . * Remember the sabbath day , to keep it holy . * Six days shall you labor , and do all your work : * But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God : in it you shall not do any work , you , nor your son , nor your daughter , your manservant , nor your maidservant , nor your cattle , nor your stranger that is within your gates : * For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth , the sea , and all that in them is , and rested the seventh day : why the LORD blessed the sabbath day , and hallowed it . * Honor your father and your mother : that your days may be long on the land which the LORD your God gives you . * You shall not kill . * You shall not commit adultery . * You shall not steal . * You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor . * You shall not covet your neighbor ' house , you shall not covet your neighbor ' wife , nor his manservant , nor his maidservant , nor his ox , nor his ass , nor any thing that is your neighbor '. * And all the people saw the thunder , and the lightning , and the noise of the trumpet , and the mountain smoking : and when the people saw it , they removed , and stood afar off . * And they said to Moses , Speak you with us , and we will hear : but let not God speak with us , lest we die . * And Moses said to the people , Fear not : for God is come to prove you , and that his fear may be before your faces , that you sin not . * And the people stood afar off , and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was . * And the LORD said to Moses , Thus you shall say to the children of Israel , You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven . * You shall not make with me gods of silver , neither shall you make to you gods of gold . * An altar of earth you shall make to me , and shall sacrifice thereon your burnt offerings , and your peace offerings , your sheep , and your oxen : in all places where I record my name I will come to you , and I will bless you . * And if you will make me an altar of stone , you shall not build it of hewn stone : for if you lift up your tool on it , you have polluted it . * Neither shall you go up by steps to my altar , that your nakedness be not discovered thereon . * Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them .

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