Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

THEIR SONG OF DELIVERANCE.

EXOD. XV. 1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lòrd, for he hath triumphed glòriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. (<)2 The Lord is my strength and sòng, and he is become my salvation : he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exàlt him. 3 The Lord is a man of war: the Lòrd is his name. 4 Pharaoh's chariots and his hóst hath he cast into the sèa: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. 5 The depths have covered them they sank into the bottom as a stone. 6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. (...) 7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. 8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, (°) I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satìsfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 10 (。) Thou didst blow with thy wind ( ... ) the sea covered them they sank as lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gòds? who is like thee, glorious in hóliness, fearful in praises, doing wonders!

THE SCENE AT SINAI.

Ex. xIx.-16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trèmbled. 17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 18 And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, (o) because the Lord descended upon it in fire.

and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a fùrnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long (<) and waxed louder and louder, Moses spáke, and God answered him by a vòice. 20 And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And the Lord said unto Moses, (o) Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. 22 And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. 23 And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai; for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 24 And the Lord said unto him, Awày, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them. 25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.

xx.-1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 (。) I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before mè. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor sèrve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vàin; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath-dày, to keep it hòly. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thóu, nor thy són, nor thy daughter, thy mán-servant, nor thy máid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger, that is within thy gàtes: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day, and hallowed it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his màn-servant, nor his maìd-servant, nor his òx, nor his àss, nor any thing that is thy neìghbour's.

18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: (...) but lēt nōt Gōd speak with us, lest we dìe.

IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF AARON'S GOLDEN

CALF.

Ex. xxx.-1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him (°) Up, make us gods, which shall go befòre us: for as for this Moses,* the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden ear-rings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the golden ear-rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf and they said, these be thy gods, O Israél, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt

By the circumflex upon Moses, indifference is expressed. "This Moses," i. e. this strange man.

offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he said, (-) It is not the voice of them that shout for mástery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcòme: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.

19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. 21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said(—) Let not the anger of my lord wax hot thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 23 For they said unto me, make us gòds, which shall go befòre us for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 24 And I said unto them, Whosover hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire and there

came out this càlf.

25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies :) 26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said (0) Who is on the Lord's side; let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 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.

MOSES BRINGETH WATER OUT OF THE ROCK.

[ocr errors]

NUMBERS XX.-1 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month and the poeple abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. 2 And there was no water for the congregation and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people chòde with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God we had died when our brethren died before the Lòrd. 4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should dìe there? 5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil plàce? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pòmegranates; neither is there any water to drink. 6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their fàces; and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them.

7 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his wàter, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the ròck: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice and the water came out abundantly: and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

12 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. 13 This is the water of Merìbah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sànctified in them.

* By the Emphasis upon 66 we "-the true sense is given, Moses thus taking glory to himself and Aaron.

« PreviousContinue »