Exodus 19 - 20, John 3, Psalm 62 — Legacy Standard Bible

Israel at Sinai

19^aIn the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of ^bSinai. ²Then they set out from ^aRephidim and came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of ^bthe mountain.

³Now Moses went up to God, and ^aYahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ⁴‘^aYou yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on ^beagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. ⁵‘So now then, ^aif you will indeed listen to My voice and ^bkeep My covenant, then you shall be ^cMy treasured possession among all the peoples, for ^dall the earth is Mine; ⁶and you shall be to Me ^aa kingdom of priests and ^ba holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

⁷^aSo Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words which Yahweh had commanded him. ⁸^aAnd all the people answered together and said, “All that Yahweh has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to Yahweh. ⁹Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in ^aa thick cloud, so that the ^bpeople may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to Yahweh.

¹⁰Yahweh also said to Moses, “Go to the people and ^aset them apart as holy today and tomorrow, and let them ^bwash their garments; ¹¹and let them be ready for the third day, for on ^athe third day Yahweh will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹²“And you shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘¹Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; ^awhoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. ¹³‘No hand shall touch him, but ^ahe shall surely be stoned or surely ¹shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to ^bthe mountain.” ¹⁴So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and set the people apart as holy, and they washed their garments. ¹⁵And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

¹⁶^aSo it happened on the third day, when it was morning, that there were ¹thunder and lightning flashes and a ²thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. ¹⁷And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the ¹foot of the mountain.

Yahweh Descends on Mount Sinai

¹⁸^aNow Mount Sinai was all in smoke because Yahweh descended upon it ^bin fire; and its smoke ascended like ^cthe smoke of a furnace, and ^dthe whole mountain trembled violently. ¹⁹And the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder; then Moses spoke and ^aGod answered him with ¹thunder. ²⁰^aAnd 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. ²¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go down, ¹warn the people, lest ^athey break through to Yahweh to see, and many of them ²perish. ²²“Also let the ^apriests who come near to Yahweh set themselves apart as holy, lest Yahweh break out against them.” ²³And Moses said to Yahweh, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You ¹warned us, saying, ‘^aSet bounds about the mountain, and set it apart as holy.’” ²⁴Then Yahweh said to him, “¹Go down and come up again, ^ayou and Aaron with you; but do not let the ^bpriests and the people break through to come up to Yahweh, lest He break out against them.” ²⁵So Moses went down to the people and told them.

The Commandments of Yahweh

20Then God spoke all these words, saying,

²“^aI am Yahweh your God, ^bwho brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ¹slavery. ³“^aYou shall have no other ^bgods ¹before Me. ⁴“^aYou shall not make for yourself ¹an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. ⁵“^aYou shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a ^bjealous God, ^cvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

⁶but showing lovingkindness to ^athousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷“^aYou shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not ¹leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. ⁸“Remember ^athe sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹“^aSix days you shall labor and do all your work,

¹⁰but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it ^ayou 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. ¹¹“^aFor 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.

¹²“^aHonor your father and your mother, that your ^bdays may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. ¹³“^aYou shall not murder. ¹⁴“^aYou shall not commit adultery. ¹⁵“^aYou shall not steal. ¹⁶“^aYou shall not bear false witness against your ^bneighbor. ¹⁷“^aYou shall not covet your neighbor’s house; ^byou 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.”

¹⁸^aAnd all the people perceived the ¹thunder 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. ¹⁹^aThen they said to Moses, “Speak ¹to us yourself, and we will listen; but let not God speak ²to us, lest we die.” ²⁰And Moses said to the people, “^aDo not be afraid; for God has come in order ^bto test you, and in order that ^cthe fear of Him may ¹be with you, so that you may not sin.” ²¹So the people stood at a distance, but Moses came near ^athe dense gloom where God was.

²²Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that ^aI have spoken ¹to you from heaven. ²³‘^aYou shall not make other gods besides Me; ^bgods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. ²⁴‘You shall make ^aan altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your ^bburnt offerings and your ^cpeace offerings, ^dyour sheep and your oxen; in every place ^ewhere I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. ²⁵‘And if you make an altar of stone for Me, ^ayou shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it. ²⁶‘And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that ^ayour nakedness will not be exposed on it.’

You Must Be Born Again

3Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named ^aNicodemus, a ^bruler of the Jews; ²this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “^aRabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these ¹^,^bsigns that You do unless ^cGod is with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one ^ais born ¹again he cannot see ^bthe kingdom of God.”

⁴Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of ^awater and the Spirit he cannot enter into ^bthe kingdom of God. ⁶“^aThat which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born ¹again.’ ⁸“^aThe wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you ^athe teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? ¹¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, ^awe speak of what we know and ^bbear witness of what we have seen, and ^cyou do not accept our witness. ¹²“If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³“^aAnd no one has ascended into heaven, but ^bHe who descended from heaven, ^cthe Son of Man. ¹⁴“And as ^aMoses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must ^bthe Son of Man ^cbe lifted up; ¹⁵so that whoever believes will ^ain Him have eternal life.

¹⁶“For God ¹so ^aloved the world, that He ^bgave His ²^,^conly begotten Son, that whoever ^dbelieves in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷“For God ^adid not send the Son into the world ^bto judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸“^aHe who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^bthe ¹only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹“And this is the judgment, that ^athe Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for ^btheir deeds were evil. ²⁰“^aFor everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest his deeds be exposed. ²¹“But he who ^apractices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been done by God.”

John the Baptist’s Last Witness

²²After these things Jesus and His ^adisciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and ^bbaptizing. ²³And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized— ²⁴for ^aJohn had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Therefore there arose a debate between John’s disciples and a Jew about ^apurification. ²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “^aRabbi, He who was with you ^bbeyond the Jordan, to whom you ^chave borne witness, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” ²⁷John answered and said, “^aA man can receive nothing unless it ^bhas been given him from heaven. ²⁸“You yourselves ¹are my witnesses that I said, ‘^aI am not the ²Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ ²⁹“He who has the bride is ^athe bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this ^bjoy of mine has been made full. ³⁰“He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹“^aHe who comes from above is above all, ^bhe who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. ^cHe who comes from heaven is above all. ³²“What He has seen and heard, of that He ^abears witness; and ^bno one receives His witness. ³³“He who has received His witness ^ahas set his seal to this, that God is true. ³⁴“For He whom God has ^asent speaks the words of God; ¹^,^bfor He gives the Spirit without measure. ³⁵“^aThe Father loves the Son and ^bhas given all things into His hand. ³⁶“He who ^abelieves in the Son has eternal life; but he who ^bdoes not ¹obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

God Is a Refuge for Us

For the choir director. According to ¹Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

^aSurely my soul waits in silence for God;From Him ^bis my salvation.²Surely He is my ^arock and my salvation,My ^bstronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.³How long will you assail a man,That you may murder him, all of you,Like a ^aleaning wall, like a fence thrust down?⁴Surely they have counseled to thrust him down from his high position;They ^afind pleasure in falsehood;They ^bbless with ¹their mouth,But inwardly they curse. ² Selah.⁵Surely ^await in silence for God, O my soul,For my hope is from Him.⁶Surely He is ^amy rock and my salvation,My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.⁷On God my ^asalvation and my glory rest;The rock of my strength, my ^brefuge is in God.⁸^aTrust in Him at all times, O people;^bPour out your heart before Him;God is a refuge for us. Selah.⁹Surely ¹men of ^alow degree are merely ^bvanity and ²men of rank are a ^clie;In the ^dbalances they go up;They are together lighter than a breath of vanity.¹⁰^aDo not trust in oppressionAnd do not put vain hope in ^brobbery;If riches increase, ^cdo not set your heart upon them.¹¹¹Once God has ^aspoken;²Twice I have heard this:That ^bstrength belongs to God;¹²And that ^ato You, O Lord, belongs lovingkindness,For You ^brepay a man according to his work.