Study Desk

Remember that I, the Lord , have given you a day of rest, and that is why on the sixth day I will always give you enough food for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day and not leave his home."

Moses said, "The Lord has commanded us to save some manna, to be kept for our descendants, so that they can see the food which he gave us to eat in the desert when he brought us out of Egypt."

Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar, put two quarts of manna in it, and place it in the Lord 's presence to be kept for our descendants."

The Israelites ate manna for the next forty years, until they reached the land of Canaan, where they settled.

I will stand before you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." Moses did so in the presence of the leaders of Israel.

When Moses' arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down.

Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and the people of Israel when he led them out of Egypt.

When Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do, he asked, "What is all this that you are doing for the people? Why are you doing this all alone, with people standing here from morning till night to consult you?"

You will wear yourself out and these people as well. This is too much for you to do alone.

Now let me give you some good advice, and God will be with you. It is right for you to represent the people before God and bring their disputes to him.

Let them serve as judges for the people on a permanent basis. They can bring all the difficult cases to you, but they themselves can decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you, as they share your burden.

They served as judges for the people on a permanent basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding the smaller disputes themselves.

and the Lord said to him, "Go to the people and tell them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves for worship. They must wash their clothes

Then Moses came down the mountain and told the people to get ready for worship. So they washed their clothes,

"Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth.

"Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the Lord your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.

Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gold to be worshiped in addition to me.

Make an altar of earth for me, and on it sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as fellowship offerings. In every place that I set aside for you to worship me, I will come to you and bless you.

If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stones, because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for my use.

Do not build an altar for me with steps leading up to it; if you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps.