Daily Text and Bible Reading: Saturday, January 25 [Press play below]

22.1 “If a man steals a bull or a sheep and he slaughters or sells it, he is to compensate with five bulls for the bull and four sheep for the sheep.
22.2 (“If a thief is found in the act of breaking in and he gets struck and dies, there is no bloodguilt for him.
22.3 But if it happens after sunrise, there is bloodguilt for him.) “He must make compensation. If he has nothing, then he must be sold for the things he stole.
22.4 If what he stole is found alive in his possession, whether it is a bull or a donkey or a sheep, he is to make double compensation.
22.5 “If anyone puts his animals out to graze in a field or a vineyard and lets them graze in someone else’s field, he is to make compensation with the best of his own field or with the best of his own vineyard.
22.6 “If a fire starts and spreads to thornbushes and it causes sheaves or standing grain or a field to be consumed, the one who started the fire must make compensation for what was burned.
22.7 “If a man gives his fellow man money or articles to keep and these are stolen from the fellow man’s house, if the thief is found, he must make double compensation.
22.8 If the thief is not found, the owner of the house must be brought before the true God in order to determine whether he put his hand on the goods of his fellow man.
22.9 In all cases of illegal possession of goods, concerning a bull, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or anything lost of which he may say, ‘This is mine!’ both parties will present their case before the true God. The one whom God pronounces guilty is to make double compensation to his fellow man.
22.10 “If a man gives his fellow man a donkey or a bull or a sheep or any domestic animal to keep and it dies or gets maimed or gets led away while nobody is looking,
22.11 there should be an oath made between them before Jehovah, that he did not lay his hand on the goods of his fellow man; and the owner must accept it. The other man is not to make compensation.
22.12 But if the animal has been stolen from him, he is to make compensation to its owner.
22.13 If it was torn by a wild animal, he is to bring it as evidence. He is not to make compensation for something torn by a wild animal.
22.14 “But if anybody asks to borrow an animal from his fellow man and it gets maimed or it dies while its owner is not with it, the man who borrowed it must make compensation.
22.15 If its owner is with it, he is not to make compensation. If it was hired, the money paid for the hire is the compensation.
22.16 “Now if a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged and he lies down with her, he must pay the bride-price for her to become his wife.
22.17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he is to pay the money at the rate of the bride-price.
22.18 “You must not allow a sorceress to live.
22.19 “Anyone lying down with an animal must surely be put to death.
22.20 “Whoever sacrifices to any gods but Jehovah alone is to be devoted to destruction.
22.21 “You must not mistreat a foreign resident or oppress him, for you were foreign residents in the land of Egypt.
22.22 “You must not afflict any widow or fatherless child.
22.23 If you afflict him at all, so that he cries out to me, I will unfailingly hear his outcry;
22.24 and my anger will blaze, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will become widows, and your children will be fatherless.
22.25 “If you lend money to anyone poor of my people, someone who is dwelling with you, you must not become like a moneylender to him. You must not charge him interest.
22.26 “If you seize the garment of your fellow man as security for a loan, you are to return it to him by sunset.
22.27 For it is his only covering, his clothing to cover his body; in what will he lie down to sleep? When he cries out to me, I will certainly hear, for I am compassionate.
22.28 “You must not curse God nor curse a chieftain among your people.
22.29 “You must not hesitate to make offerings from your abundant produce and the overflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you are to give to me.
22.30 This is what you should do with your bull and your sheep: Seven days it will continue with its mother. On the eighth day, you are to give it to me.
22.31 “You should prove yourselves holy people to me, and you must not eat the flesh of anything in the field that has been torn by a wild animal. You should throw it to the dogs.
23.1 “You must not spread a report that is not true. Do not cooperate with a wicked one by becoming a malicious witness.
23.2 You must not follow after the crowd to do evil, and you must not pervert justice by giving testimony to go along with the crowd.
23.3 You must show impartiality in the dispute of a poor person.
23.4 “If you come upon your enemy’s bull or his donkey straying, you must return it to him.
23.5 If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has fallen under its load, you must not ignore it and leave. You must help him release the animal.
23.6 “You are not to pervert the judgment of the poor one among you in his legal case.
23.7 “Have nothing to do with a false accusation, and do not kill the innocent and the righteous, for I will not declare the wicked one righteous.
23.8 “You must not accept a bribe, for the bribe blinds clear-sighted men and can distort the words of righteous men.
23.9 “You must not oppress a foreign resident. You know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreign residents in the land of Egypt.
23.10 “You are to sow your land with seed and gather its produce for six years.
23.11 But the seventh year you should leave it uncultivated and let it lie fallow, and the poor among your people will eat of it, and what they leave, the wild animals of the field will eat. That is what you should do with your vineyard and your olive grove.
23.12 “Six days you are to do your work; but on the seventh day, you are to cease from your labor, in order that your bull and your donkey may rest and the son of your slave girl and the foreign resident may refresh themselves.
23.13 “You must be careful to do all that I have said to you, and you must not mention the names of other gods; they should not be heard on your lips.
23.14 “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
23.15 You will observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. You will eat unleavened bread for seven days, just as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for at that time you came out of Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
23.16 Also, you are to observe the Festival of Harvest of the first ripe fruits of your labors, of what you sow in the field; and the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the results of your labors.
23.17 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the true Lord, Jehovah.
23.18 “You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened. And the sacrifices of fat offered at my festivals should not stay overnight until the morning.
23.19 “You are to bring the best of the first ripe fruits of your ground to the house of Jehovah your God. “You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
23.20 “I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you on the way and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.
23.21 Pay attention to him, and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, because my name is in him.
23.22 However, if you strictly obey his voice and do all that I say, I will show hostility to your enemies and oppose those who oppose you.
23.23 For my angel will go ahead of you and will bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.
23.24 You must not bow down to their gods or be persuaded to serve them, and you must not imitate their practices. Instead, you must demolish them and smash their sacred pillars.
23.25 You must serve Jehovah your God, and he will bless your bread and your water. I will remove sickness from among you.
23.26 The women in your land will not suffer a miscarriage or be barren, and I will give you a full life span.
23.27 “I will send the fear of me ahead of you, and I will throw into confusion all the people you encounter, and I will cause all your enemies to flee from you in defeat.
23.28 I will send the feeling of dejection ahead of you, and it will drive the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites out from before you.
23.29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, so that the land does not become desolate and the wild animals of the field multiply against you.
23.30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.
23.31 “I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the River; for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out from before you.
23.32 You must not make a covenant with them or their gods.
23.33 They should not dwell in your land, so that they may not cause you to sin against me. If you should serve their gods, it would surely become a snare to you.”
24.1 Then he said to Moses: “Go up to Jehovah, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, and bow down from a distance.
24.2 Moses should approach Jehovah by himself; but the others should not approach, and the people should not go up with him.”
24.3 Then Moses came and related to the people all the words of Jehovah and all the judicial decisions, and all the people answered with one voice: “All the words that Jehovah has spoken, we are willing to do.”
24.4 So Moses wrote down all the words of Jehovah. Then he got up early in the morning and built at the foot of the mountain an altar and 12 pillars corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel.
24.5 After that he sent young Israelite men, and they offered up burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as communion sacrifices to Jehovah.
24.6 Then Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
24.7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. And they said: “All that Jehovah has spoken we are willing to do, and we will be obedient.”
24.8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said: “This is the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has made with you in harmony with all these words.”
24.9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel went up,
24.10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was what seemed like a sapphire pavement, and it was as pure as the heavens themselves.
24.11 He did not harm the distinguished men of Israel, and they saw a vision of the true God and ate and drank.
24.12 Jehovah now said to Moses: “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment that I will write for their instruction.”
24.13 So Moses got up with his attendant Joshua, and Moses went up the mountain of the true God.
24.14 But to the elders he had said: “Wait here for us until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you. Whoever has a legal case may go to them.”
24.15 Then Moses went up the mountain while the cloud was covering it.
24.16 Jehovah’s glory remained on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.
24.17 To the Israelites who were watching, the appearance of Jehovah’s glory was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop.
24.18 Moses then entered into the cloud and went up the mountain. And Moses stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.
25.1 Jehovah then said to Moses:
25.2 “Tell the people of Israel to take up a contribution for me; from every person whose heart moves him, you are to take up my contribution.
25.3 This is the contribution that you are to accept from them: gold, silver, copper,
25.4 blue thread, purple wool, scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair,
25.5 ram skins dyed red, sealskins, acacia wood,
25.6 oil for the lamps, balsam for the anointing oil and for the perfumed incense,
25.7 and onyx stones and other stones to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece.
25.8 They are to make a sanctuary for me, and I will reside among them.
25.9 You are to make it, the tabernacle and all its furnishings, following exactly the pattern that I am showing you.
25.10 “They are to make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide and a cubit and a half high.
25.11 Then you will overlay it with pure gold. Inside and outside you are to overlay it, and you will make a border of gold all around it.
25.12 And you will cast four rings of gold for it and attach them above its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other side.
25.13 And you will make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
25.14 You will put the poles through the rings on the sides of the Ark in order to carry the Ark with them.
25.15 The poles will stay in the rings of the Ark; they are not to be removed from it.
25.16 You will place in the Ark the Testimony that I will give you.
25.17 “You will make a cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
25.18 You are to make two cherubs of gold; you will make them of hammered work on the two ends of the cover.
25.19 Make the cherubs on the two ends, one cherub on each end of the cover.
25.20 The cherubs are to spread out their two wings upward, overshadowing the cover with their wings, and they will face each other. The faces of the cherubs will be turned toward the cover.
25.21 You will put the cover on the Ark, and in the Ark you will place the Testimony that I will give you.
25.22 I will present myself to you there and speak with you from above the cover. From between the two cherubs that are on the ark of the Testimony, I will make known to you all that I will command you for the Israelites.
25.23 “You will also make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long and a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.
25.24 You will overlay it with pure gold and make a golden border around it.
25.25 You will make a rim around it a handbreadth wide and a border of gold to go around the rim.
25.26 You will make for it four rings of gold and place the rings on the four corners, where the four legs are attached.
25.27 The rings are to be close to the rim as holders for the poles for carrying the table.
25.28 You will make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold and carry the table with them.
25.29 “You will also make its dishes, its cups, and its pitchers and bowls from which they will pour drink offerings. You are to make them out of pure gold.
25.30 And you will put the showbread on the table before me constantly.
25.31 “You will make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand is to be made of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its branches, its cups, its knobs, and its blossoms will be one piece.
25.32 And six branches will extend out from the sides of the lampstand, three branches from one side and three branches from the other side.
25.33 Three cups shaped like almond flowers will be on the one set of branches, with knobs and blossoms alternating, and three cups shaped like almond flowers on the other set of branches, with knobs and blossoms alternating. This is how the six branches will extend out from the stem of the lampstand.
25.34 On the stem of the lampstand are four cups shaped like almond flowers, with its knobs and its blossoms alternating.
25.35 A knob will be under the first two branches that extend out of the stem and a knob under the next two branches and a knob under the next two branches, for the six branches extending out from the stem.
25.36 The knobs and the branches and the whole lampstand are to be one piece of pure, hammered gold.
25.37 You will make seven lamps for it, and when the lamps are lit, they will shine on the area in front of it.
25.38 Its snuffers and its fire holders are to be of pure gold.
25.39 It should be made, along with these utensils, from a talent of pure gold.
25.40 See that you make them after their pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.