Hello, this is Father Paul and I'm glad we're taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year.
Yesterday we heard about how God called Moses and the Israelites to come to the holy mountain
and then God called Moses to come up the mountain and how he received the Ten Commandments and
he began to give him the law.
Today we're going to hear about the rest of the law and how the Israelites received the
law when Moses comes down from the mountain to tell them.
Alright, let's begin.
Today's reading is from Exodus 22, 23, and 24.
Chapter 22
If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it and sells it, he shall restore five oxen
for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
If the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no
guilt for his bloodshed.
If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed.
He should make full restitution.
If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
If the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep,
he shall restore double.
If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed, and lets loose his animal and it feeds
in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best
of his own vineyard.
If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain, or
the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.
If a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of
the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.
If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges
to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods.
For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or
for any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall
come before the judges, and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.
If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and
it dies, is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing it, then an oath of the Lord shall be between
them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor's goods.
Then the owner of it shall accept that, and he shall not make it good.
But if, in fact, it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it.
If it is torn to pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not
make good what was torn.
And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor, and it becomes injured or dies, the owner
of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good.
If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good.
If it was hired, it came for its hire.
If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall surely pay the
bride price for her to be his wife.
If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the
bride price of virgins.
You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.
He who sacrifices to any god except the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him.
For you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.
If you afflict them in any way and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry,
and my wrath will become hot and I will kill you with the sword.
Your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.
If you lend money to any of my people who are poor among you, you shall not be like
the money lender to him.
You shall not charge him interest.
If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before
the sun goes down.
For that is his only covering.
It is his garment for his skin.
What will he sleep in?
And it will be that when he cries to me, I will hear for I am gracious.
You shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people.
You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe produce or your juices, the first
born of your sons you shall give to me.
Likewise you shall do with your oxen and your sheep.
It shall be with its mother seven days.
On the eighth day you shall give it to me.
And you shall be holy men to me.
You shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field.
You shall throw it to the dogs.
Chapter 23
You shall not circulate a false report.
Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
You shall not follow a crowd to do evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn
aside after many to pervert justice.
You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.
If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back
to him again.
If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden and you would refrain
from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute.
Keep yourself far from a false matter.
Do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not justify the wicked.
And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the
righteous.
Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger because you
were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall
let it rest and lie fallow.
That the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave the beasts of the field may
eat.
In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.
Six days you shall do your work and on the seventh day you shall rest.
That your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and a stranger
may be refreshed.
And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods,
nor let it be heard from your mouth.
Three times you shall keep a feast to me in the year.
You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread.
You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you at the time appointed in
the month of Abib.
For in it you came out of Egypt, none shall appear before me empty.
And a feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labor which you have sown in the field.
And a feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit
of your labors from the field.
Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.
You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the fat of
my sacrifice remain until morning.
The first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord
your God.
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
Behold, I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place
which I have prepared.
Beware of him and obey his voice.
Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him.
But if you indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your
enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
For my angel will go before you and bring you into the Amorites and the Hittites and
the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I will cut
them off.
You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do according to their works, but
you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.
So you shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and
I will take sickness away from the midst of you.
No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land.
I will fulfill the number of your days.
I will send my fear before you.
I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies
turn their backs to you.
And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites
and the Hittites from before you.
I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate
and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and you
inherit the land.
And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the Sea Philistia, and from the desert
to the river.
For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them
out before you.
You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me.
For if you serve their gods, it will surely be as near to you.
Chapter 24
Now he said to Moses, Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy
of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.
And Moses alone shall come near the LORD, but they shall not come near, nor shall the
people go up with him.
So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments.
And all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD has
said we will do.
Then Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and he rose early in the morning, and built
an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes
of Israel.
Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed
peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
And Moses took half the blood, and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled
on the altar.
Then he took the book of the covenant, and read in the hearing of the people, and he
said, All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.
And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, This is the blood of
the covenant, which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.
Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,
and they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work
of sapphire stone.
And it was like the very heavens in its clarity.
And on the nobles of the children of Israel he did not lay his hand.
So they saw God, and they ate and drank.
Then the LORD said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain, and be there, and I will
give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you
may teach them.
So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.
And he said to the elders, Wait here for us, until we come back to you.
Indeed Aaron and Hor are with you.
If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.
Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.
Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days.
And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
The sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain
in the eyes of the children of Israel.
So Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mountain.
And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing you
again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.