EXODUS 34:1-35:9
MATTHEW 27:15-31
PSALM 33:12-22
PROVERBS 9:1-6
EXODUS 34:1-35:9
The LORD told Moses, " Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed. 2 Be ready in the morning to come up Mount Sinai and present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain. 3 No one else may come with you. In fact, no one is allowed anywhere on the mountain. Do not even let the flocks or herds graze near the mountain." 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Early in the morning he climbed Mount Sinai as the LORD had told him, carrying the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and called out his own name, " the LORD," as Moses stood there in his presence. 6 He passed in front of Moses and said, " I am the LORD, I am the LORD, the merciful and gracious God. I am slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness. 7 I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. Even so I do not leave sin unpunished, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations." 8 Moses immediately fell to the ground and worshiped. 9 And he said, " If it is true that I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, then please go with us. Yes, this is an unruly and stubborn people, but please pardon our iniquity and our sins. Accept us as your own special possession." 10 The LORD replied, " All right. This is the covenant I am going to make with you. I will perform wonders that have never been done before anywhere in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people around you will see the power of the LORD--the awesome power I will display through you. 11 Your responsibility is to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then I will surely drive out all those who stand in your way--the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 12 " Be very careful never to make treaties with the people in the land where you are going. If you do, you soon will be following their evil ways. 13 Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash the sacred pillars they worship, and cut down their carved images. 14 You must worship no other gods, but only the LORD, for he is a God who is passionate about his relationship with you. 15 " Do not make treaties of any kind with the people living in the land. They are spiritual prostitutes, committing adultery against me by sacrificing to their gods. If you make peace with them, they will invite you to go with them to worship their gods, and you are likely to do it. 16 And you will accept their daughters, who worship other gods, as wives for your sons. Then they will cause your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods. 17 You must make no gods for yourselves at all. 18 " Be sure to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days, just as I instructed you, at the appointed time each year in early spring, for that was when you left Egypt. 19 " Every firstborn male belongs to me--of both cattle and sheep. 20 A firstborn male donkey may be redeemed from the LORD by presenting a lamb in its place. But if you decide not to make the exchange, you must kill the donkey by breaking its neck. However, you must redeem every firstborn son. No one is allowed to appear before me without a gift. 21 " Six days are set aside for work, but on the Sabbath day you must rest, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest. 22 And you must remember to celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first crop of the wheat harvest, and celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season. 23 Three times each year all the men of Israel must appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. 24 No one will attack and conquer your land when you go to appear before the LORD your God those three times each year. I will drive out the nations that stand in your way and will enlarge your boundaries. 25 " You must not offer bread made with yeast as a sacrifice to me. And none of the meat of the Passover lamb may be kept over until the following morning. 26 You must bring the best of the first of each year's crop to the house of the LORD your God. " You must not cook a young goat in its mother's milk." 27 And the LORD said to Moses, " Write down all these instructions, for they represent the terms of my covenant with you and with Israel." 28 Moses was up on the mountain with the LORD forty days and forty nights. In all that time he neither ate nor drank. At that time he wrote the terms of the covenant--the Ten Commandments--on the stone tablets. 29 When Moses came down the mountain carrying the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn't aware that his face glowed because he had spoken to the LORD face to face. 30 And when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses' face, they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them and asked Aaron and the community leaders to come over and talk with him. 32 Then all the people came, and Moses gave them the instructions the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he removed the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the LORD had given him, 35 and the people would see his face aglow. Afterward he would put the veil on again until he returned to speak with the LORD.35:1 NOW Moses called a meeting of all the people and told them, " You must obey these instructions from the LORD. 2 Each week, work for six days only. The seventh day is a day of total rest, a holy day that belongs to the LORD. Anyone who works on that day will die. 3 Do not even light fires in your homes on that day." 4 Then Moses said to all the people, " This is what the LORD has commanded. 5 Everyone is invited to bring these offerings to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen; goat hair for cloth; 7 tanned ram skins and fine goatskin leather; acacia wood; 8 olive oil for the lamps; spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; 9 onyx stones, and other stones to be set in the ephod and the chestpiece."
MATTHEW 27:15-31
Now it was the governor's custom to release one prisoner to the crowd each year during the Passover celebration--anyone they wanted. 16 This year there was a notorious criminal in prison, a man named Barabbas. 17 As the crowds gathered before Pilate's house that morning, he asked them, " Which one do you want me to release to you--Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?" 18 (He knew very well that the Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.) 19 Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: " Leave that innocent man alone, because I had a terrible nightmare about him last night." 20 Meanwhile, the leading priests and other leaders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. 21 So when the governor asked again, " Which of these two do you want me to release to you?" the crowd shouted back their reply: " Barabbas!" 22 " But if I release Barabbas," Pilate asked them, " what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?" And they all shouted, " Crucify him!" 23 " Why?" Pilate demanded. " What crime has he committed?" But the crowd only roared the louder, " Crucify him!" 24 Pilate saw that he wasn't getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, " I am innocent of the blood of this man. The responsibility is yours!" 25 And all the people yelled back, " We will take responsibility for his death--we and our children!"26 So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify him. 27 Some of the governor's soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire battalion. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head, and they placed a stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery, yelling, " Hail! King of the Jews!" 30 And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and beat him on the head with it. 31 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.
PSALM 33:12-22
What joy for the nation whose God is the LORD,
whose people he has chosen for his own.
13 The LORD looks down from heaven
and sees the whole human race.
14 From his throne he observes
all who live on the earth.
15 He made their hearts,
so he understands everything they do.
16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king,
nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
17 Don't count on your warhorse to give you victory--
for all its strength, it cannot save you.
18 But the LORD watches over those who fear him,
those who rely on his unfailing love.
19 He rescues them from death
and keeps them alive in times of famine.
20 We depend on the LORD alone to save us.
Only he can help us, protecting us like a shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we are trusting in his holy name.
22 Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD,
for our hope is in you alone.
PROVERBS 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her spacious house with seven pillars. She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table. She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls out from the heights overlooking the city. " Come home with me," she urges the simple. To those without good judgment, she says, " Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your foolish ways behind, and begin to live; learn how to be wise."
