- And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was outside the camp. And it came to pass when Moses went out unto the tabernacle that all the people rose up and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.
- And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp. But his servant, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. And Moses said unto the Lord, See, you say unto me, Bring up this people — and you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in my sight. Now therefore I ask of you, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you, that I may find grace in your sight. And consider that this nation is your people. And he said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said unto him, If your presence go not with me, carry us not up from here. For wherein shall it be known here that I and your people have found grace in your sight? Is it not in that you go with us? So shall we be separated, I and your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
- And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that you have spoken, for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. And he said, I implore you, show me your glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said unto Moses, You cannot see my face at this time, lest my anger is kindled against you also, and I destroy you and your people. For there shall no man among them see me at this time and live, for they are exceedingly sinful, and no sinful man has at any time, neither shall there be any sinful man at any time, that shall see my face and live.
- And the Lord said, Behold, you shall stand upon a rock, and I will prepare a place by me for you. And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of a rock and cover you with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away my hand and you shall see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen as at other times, for I am angry with my people Israel.
- And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew two other tablets of stones, like unto the first, and I will write upon them also the words of the law, according as they were written at the first on the tablets which you broke. But it shall not be according to the first, for I will take away the Priesthood out of their midst. Therefore, my Holy Order and the ordinances thereof shall not go before them, for my presence shall not go up in their midst lest I destroy them. But I will give unto them the law as at the first; but it shall be after the law of a carnal commandment, for I have sworn in my wrath that they shall not enter into my presence, into my rest, in the days of their pilgrimage. Therefore, do as I have commanded you, and be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with you, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.
- And Moses hewed two tablets of stone like unto the first, and he rose up early in the morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the rebellious, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray you, go among us — for it is a stiffnecked people — and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.
- And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is a terrible thing that I will do with you. Observe that which I command you this day: Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it be for a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves — for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jehovah, is a jealous God — lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and call you and you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters unto your sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make your sons go a whoring after their gods. You shall make no molten gods.
- The feast of unleavened bread shall you keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the time of the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
- All that opens the womb is mine and every firstling among your cattle, whether ox or sheep. But the firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb, and if you redeem him not, then you shall break his neck. All the first born of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
- Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
- And you shall observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. Three times in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders. Neither shall any man desire your land, when you shall go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.
- You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven. Neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
- The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring unto the house of the Lord your God.
- You shall not boil a kid in his mother’s milk.
- And the Lord said unto Moses, Write these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He did neither eat bread nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant — the ten commandments.
Chapter 18