Daily Bread

Tablets Like the First Ones

10 At that time the Lord said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets^(A) like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark.^{[a] 2} I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”^(B)

³ So I made the ark out of acacia wood^(C) and chiseled^(D) out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments^(E) he had proclaimed^(F) to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.^(G) And the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I came back down the mountain^(H) and put the tablets in the ark^(I) I had made,^(J) as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.^(K)

⁶ (The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah.^(L) There Aaron died^(M) and was buried, and Eleazar^(N) his son succeeded him as priest.^{(O) 7} From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.^{(P) 8} At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi^(Q) to carry the ark of the covenant^(R) of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister^(S) and to pronounce blessings^(T) in his name, as they still do today.^{(U) 9} That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(V) as the Lord your God told them.)

¹⁰ Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.^{(W) 11} “Go,” the Lord said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

Fear the Lord

¹² And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you^(X) but to fear^(Y) the Lord your God, to walk^(Z) in obedience to him, to love him,^(AA) to serve the Lord^(AB) your God with all your heart^(AC) and with all your soul,^{(AD) 13} and to observe the Lord’s commands^(AE) and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?^(AF)

¹⁴ To the Lord your God belong the heavens,^(AG) even the highest heavens,^(AH) the earth and everything in it.^{(AI) 15} Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved^(AJ) them, and he chose you,^(AK) their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.^{(AL) 16} Circumcise^(AM) your hearts,^(AN) therefore, and do not be stiff-necked^(AO) any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods^(AP) and Lord of lords,^(AQ) the great God, mighty and awesome,^(AR) who shows no partiality^(AS) and accepts no bribes.^{(AT) 18} He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,^(AU) and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.^{(AV) 19} And you are to love^(AW) those who are foreigners,^(AX) for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.^{(AY) 20} Fear the Lord your God and serve him.^(AZ) Hold fast^(BA) to him and take your oaths in his name.^{(BB) 21} He is the one you praise;^(BC) he is your God, who performed for you those great^(BD) and awesome wonders^(BE) you saw with your own eyes. ²² Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all,^(BF) and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.^(BG)