(from One New Man Bible translated by William Morford)

Ki Tisa

Hebrew Shekel

30:11. “And the LORD* spoke to Moses, saying, 12. When you take a census of the children of Israel after their number, then they will give each man a ransom for his life to the LORD* when you number them, so there will be no plague among them when you number them. 13. This they will give, everyone who passes among those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the Sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs) half a shekel will be the offering of the LORD*. 14. Everyone who passes among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above will give an offering to the LORD*. 15. The rich will not give more and the poor will not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering to the LORD* to make atonement for your lives. 16. And you will take the atonement money of the children of Israel and will appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, so it will be a memorial of the children of Israel before the LORD*, to make atonement for your lives.”

30:17. And the LORD* spoke to Moses saying, 18. “You will also make a laver of bronze and its foot of bronze, to immerse, and you will put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and you will put water in it. 19. For Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet there. 20. When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they will immerse in water, so they will not die or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD*. 21. So they will wash their hands and their feet, so they will not die and it will be a statute forever for them, for him and his seed throughout their generations.”

30:22. Moreover the LORD* spoke to Moses saying, 23. “Take also for yourself principal spices five hundred shekels of pure myrrh and half as much, two hundred fifty shekels of sweet cinnamon and two hundred fifty shekels of sweet calamus
24. and five hundred shekels of cassia, after the shekel of the Sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. 25. And you will make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it will be a holy anointing oil. 26. And with it you will anoint the Tent of Meeting and the Ark of the Testimony, 27. the table and all its vessels, the menorah and its vessels, the altar of incense, 28. the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the laver and its foot. 29. And you will sanctify them so they will be most holy: whatever touches them will be holy. 30. And you will anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they can minister to Me in the priest’s office. 31. And you will speak to the children of Israel saying, This will be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32. It will not be poured upon man’s flesh, neither will you make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, it will be holy to you. 33. Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it upon a stranger, will even be cut off from his people.”

30:34. And the LORD* said to Moses, “Take for yourself sweet spices, stacte, onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense; there will be a like weight of each. 35. And you will make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, salted, pure and holy 36. and you will beat some of it very small and put it before the Testimony (Ark) in the Tent of Meeting, where I shall meet you: it will be most holy to you. 37. And the perfume which you will make, you will not make for yourselves according to its formula: it will be to you holy for the LORD*. 38. Whoever will make anything to smell like it will be cut off from his people.”

Bezalel Appointed

31.1. And the LORD* spoke to Moses, saying, 2. “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. 3. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship: 4. to devise skillful works, to work gold, silver, and bronze, 5. and in cutting of stones, to set them and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. 6. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan, and in the hearts of all who are wise hearted I have put wisdom, so they can make all that I have commanded you; 7. the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Testimony, the cover that is on it, all the furniture of the Tent, 8. the table and its furniture, the pure menorah with all its furniture, the altar of incense, 9. the altar of burnt offering with all its furniture, the laver and its foot, 10. the crocheted garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office, 11. the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the Holy Place. They will do according to all that I have commanded you.”

31:12. And the LORD* spoke to Moses, saying, 13. “Speak also to the children of Israel saying, Verily you will keep My Sabbaths for a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so you will know that I AM the LORD* Who sanctifies you. 14. Therefore you will keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you: everyone who defiles it will be put to death. Whoever does any work, that soul will be cut off from among his people. 15. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD*: whoever does any work on the Sabbath, he will surely be put to death. 16. Therefore the children of Israel will keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. 17. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever, for in six days the LORD* made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”

The Golden Calf

31:18. And He gave to Moses two tablets of testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai. 32.1. And when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Get up! Make gods for us that will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.” (Acts 7:40) 2. And Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters and bring them to me.” 3. And all the people took off the golden earrings, which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4. And he took them from their hand and fashioned it in a mold, and he made a molten calf and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 5. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD*.” 6. And they rose up early on the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. (1 Cor. 10:7)

32:7. And the LORD* said to Moses, “Go! Get yourself down! Your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8. They have turned aside quickly out of the Way which I commanded them: they have made themselves a molten calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that has brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’” 9. And the LORD* said to Moses, “I have seen this people and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10. Now therefore let Me alone so My wrath can wax hot against them and so I can consume them, and I shall make a great nation of you.” 11. And Moses sought the LORD* his God and said, “LORD*, why does Your wrath wax hot against Your people, whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12. Why should the Egyptians speak and say, He brought them out for evil, to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath and be sorry of this evil against Your people. 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom you did swear by Your own self and said to them, I shall multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they will inherit it forever.” (Heb. 11:12) 14. Then the LORD* was sorry for the evil which He thought to do to His people.

32:15. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both their sides; they were written on the one side and on the other. 16. And the tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18. And he said, “It is not the sound of those who shout for mastery, neither is it the sound of those who cry for being overcome, I hear the noise of those who sing.”

32:19. And it happened, as soon as he came near the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses’ anger waxed hot and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the bottom of the mountain. 20. And he took the calf which they had made and burned it in the fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water, then made the children of Israel drink it. 21. And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” 22. And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil, 23. for they said to me, ‘Make us gods so they will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24. And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me. Then I threw it into the fire and this calf came out.”

32:25. And when Moses saw that the people had become unruly (for Aaron had made them unruly, for a disgrace among their enemies). 26. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s* side? Let him come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD* God of Israel, Each man put his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and each man slay his brother and each man his companion and each man his neighbor.” 28. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 29. For Moses had said, “Dedicate yourselves today to the LORD*, even each man on his son and on his brother, so He can bestow a blessing upon you this day.” 30. And it happened on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin and now I shall go up to the LORD*; perhaps I will make atonement for your sin.” 31. And Moses returned to the LORD* and said, “Oh, this people has sinned a great sin and has made themselves gods of gold. 32. Yet now, if You will forgive their sin, and if not, erase me, please, out of your scroll which You have written.” (Rev. 21:27) 33. And the LORD* said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I shall erase him from My book. (Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12) 34. Therefore now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My angel will go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish I shall surely punish their sin upon them.” 35. Then the LORD* plagued the people, because they made the calf that Aaron made.

Now Get Going

33.1. And the LORD* said to Moses, “Go! Go up from here! You and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob saying, I shall give it to your seed. 2. And I shall send an angel before you and I shall drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite 3. to a land flowing with milk and honey, for I shall not go up among you so I will not kill you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

33:4. And when the people heard these bad tidings, they grieved and nobody put on his ornaments. 5. For the LORD* had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I shall come up among you in a moment and consume you: therefore now take off your ornaments from yourselves, so I shall know what to do to you.’” 6. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.

33:7. And Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, afar off from the camp and called it the tent of meeting. And it was that everyone who sought the LORD* went out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8. And it was, when Moses went out to the tent that all the people rose up and stood, each man at his tent door, and watched Moses until he went into the tent. 9. And it happened, as Moses entered the tent, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tent and He talked with Moses. 10. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tent door, and all the people rose up and worshipped, each man at his tent door. 11. And the LORD* spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And Moses returned again to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.

33:12. And Moses said to the LORD*, “See, You say to me, Bring up this people and You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name and you have also found favor in My sight. 13. Now therefore, I plead with You, if I have found favor in Your sight, show me Your Way now, so I shall know You and I will find favor in Your sight and will see to it that this nation is Your people.”

33:14. And He said, “My Presence will go with you and I shall give you rest.” 15. And he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with me, do not take us up from here! 16. How will it be known here that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight? Is it not because You go with us? So we will be separated, I and Your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth?”

Moses Sees God’s Glory

33:17. And the LORD* said to Moses, “I shall do this thing also that you have spoken for you have found favor in My sight and I do know you by name.” 18. And he said, “I beseech You, show me Your glory.” 19. And He said, “I shall make all My goodness pass before you and I shall proclaim the name of the LORD* before you and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” (Rom. 9:15) 20. Then He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man will see Me and live.” 21. And the LORD* said, “Behold, there is a place by Me and you will stand upon a rock, 22. and it will happen, while My glory passes by, that I shall put you in a cleft of the rock and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23. Then I shall take away My hand and you will see My back parts but My face will not be seen.”

This Time Moses Cuts Two Tablets

34.1. And the LORD* said to Moses, “Hew two tablets of stone like the first and I shall write upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2. And be ready in the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. 3. And no man is to come up with you, neither let any man be seen throughout the whole mountain. Neither let the flocks or herds feed before that mountain.” 4. And he hewed two tablets of stone like the first and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD* had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

34:5. And the LORD* descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the LORD*. 6. And the LORD* passed by before him and proclaimed, “The LORD*, the LORD* God, merciful and gracious, patient, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, 7. keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, to the third and to the fourth generations.

34:8. And Moses hurried and bowed his head to the earth, and worshipped. 9. And he said, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray You, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity, intentional sin, and our sin, unintentional sin, and take us for Your inheritance.”

Second Giving of Statements

34:10. And He said, “Behold, I AM cutting a covenant: before all your people. I shall do amazing things, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among whom you are will see the work of the LORD*, for it is an awe-inspiring thing that I shall do with you. 11. Mark well what I AM commanding you this day! See for yourself! I am expelling before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12. Take heed for yourself, that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among of you, 13. but you will destroy their altars, break their images and cut down their groves, 14. for you will worship no other god: for the LORD*, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15. Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they go astray after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and invite you and you eat of his sacrifice. 16. And you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters go astray after their gods and make your sons go astray after their gods. 17. You will make no molten gods for yourselves.”

34:18. “You will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You will eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded you, in the time of the month Aviv, for in the month Aviv you came out from Egypt.”

34:19. “All that opens the womb is Mine and every firstling among your livestock that is male, whether ox or sheep. 20. But the firstling of a donkey you will redeem with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, then you will break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you will redeem. And no one will appear before Me empty.

34:21. “You will work six days, but on the seventh day you will rest: in plowing time and in harvest you will rest.

34:22. “And you will observe the Feast of Weeks of the First Fruits of wheat harvest (Shavuot), and the Feast of Ingathering (Sukkot) at the year’s end.

34:23. “Three times a year all your males will appear before the LORD* God, the God of Israel. 24. For I shall cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders. Neither will any man desire your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD* your God three times a year.

34:25. “You will not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven. Neither will the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left to the morning.

34:26. “The first of the First Fruits of your land you will bring to the House of the LORD* your God. You will not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”

34:27. And the LORD* said to Moses, “Write these words for yourself, for in accordance with these words I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28. And he was there with the LORD* forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread, nor drank water. And He wrote the ten statements on the tablets and the words of the covenant.

34:29. And it happened when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of Testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. 30. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31. And Moses called to them and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32. And afterward all the children of Israel came near and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD* had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33. And until Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34. But when Moses went in before the LORD* to speak with Him, he took the veil off until he came out. And he came out and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35. And the children of Israel saw that the skin of Moses’ face shone and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.

Next week’s Torah readings: Vayak’hel

(from One New Man Bible translated by William Morford)