13 to 1: These Are Great Odds!

(1) יקוק said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered. (2) Be ready by morning, and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain. (3) No one else shall come up with you, and no one else shall be seen anywhere on the mountain; neither shall the flocks and the herds graze at the foot of this mountain.” (4) So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as יקוק had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him. (5) יקוק came down in a cloud—and stood with him there, proclaiming the name יקוק. (6) יקוק passed before him and proclaimed: “!יקוק! יקוק a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, (7) extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin—yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

(13) After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Booths for seven days. (14) You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities. (15) You shall hold a festival for your God יהוה seven days, in the place that יהוה will choose; for your God יהוה will bless all your crops and all your undertakings, and you shall have nothing but joy.

(6) יקוק passed before him and proclaimed: “[1] !יקוק [2] !יקוק [3] a God [4] compassionate and [5] gracious, [6] slow to anger, [*] abounding in [*7] kindness and [*8] faithfulness, (7) [9] extending kindness to the thousandth generation, [**] forgiving [**10] iniquity, [**11] transgression, and [**12] sin—[13] yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

(6) יקוק passed before him and proclaimed: “[1] !יקוק [1'] !יקוק [2'] a God [3'] compassionate and [4'] gracious, [5'] slow to anger, [*] abounding in [*6'] kindness and [*7'] faithfulness, (7) [8'] extending kindness to the thousandth generation, [**] forgiving [**1"] iniquity, [**2"] transgression, and [**3"] sin—[4"] yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.” (8) Moses hastened to bow low to the ground in homage, (9) and said, “If I have gained Your favor, O my lord, pray, let my lord go in our midst, even though this is a stiffnecked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!” (10) [God] said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will work such wonders as have not been wrought on all the earth or in any nation; and all the people who are with you shall see how awesome are יקוק’s deeds which I will perform for you. (11) Mark well what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (12) Beware of making a covenant with the inhabitants of the land against which you are advancing, lest they be a snare in your midst. (13) No, you must tear down their altars, smash their pillars, and cut down their sacred posts; (14) for you must not worship any other god, because יקוק, whose name is Impassioned, is an impassioned God. (15) You must not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for they will lust after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and invite you, and you will eat of their sacrifices.

(8) Moses hastened to bow low to the ground in homage,

(14) for you must not worship any other god, because יקוק, whose name is Impassioned, is an impassioned God.

(4) Hear, O Israel! יקוק is our God, יקוק alone.

(9) And GOD shall be sovereign over all the earth; in that day there shall be one GOD with one name.

(6) Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together. (7) Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” (8) And Abraham said, “It is God who will see to the sheep for this burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together. (9) They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. (10) And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. (11) Then a messenger of יקוק called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” (12) “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.” (13) When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a * [a Reading ’eḥad with many Heb. mss. and ancient versions; text ’aḥar “after.”] ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son.

(1) יקוק spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Send agents to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one participant from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.” (3) So Moses, by יקוק’s command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran, all of them being men of consequence, leaders of the Israelites.

(1) This is the blessing with which Moses, God’s agent, bade the Israelites farewell before he died.

(17) But Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing you are doing is not right; (18) you will surely wear yourself out, and these people as well. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. (19) Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You represent the people before God: you bring the disputes before God, (20) and enjoin upon them the laws and the teachings, and make known to them the way they are to go and the practices they are to follow. (21) You shall also seek out, from among all the people, capable individuals who fear God—trustworthy ones who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and (22) let them judge the people at all times. Have them bring every major dispute to you, but let them decide every minor dispute themselves. Make it easier for yourself by letting them share the burden with you.

(1) When God began to create heaven and earth— (2) the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water— (3) God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. (4) God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light Day and called the darkness Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day. (6) God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, that it may separate water from water.” (7) God made the expanse, and it separated the water which was below the expanse from the water which was above the expanse. And it was so. (8) God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.