The Song of Moses

1 Then Moses and the people of Israel ^hsang this song to the Lord, saying,

19 For ^gwhen the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, ^hthe Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with ⁱtambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:

Bitter Water Made Sweet

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went ^kinto the ^lwilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found ^mno water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.² 24 And the people ⁿgrumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,³ and he ^othrew it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord⁴ made for them a statute and a rule, and there he ^ptested them, 26 saying, ^q“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, ^rI will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your ^shealer.”

27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

Bread from Heaven

1 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, ^ton the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel ^ugrumbled ^vagainst Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, ^w“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ^xwhen we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

4 ^yThen the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain ^zbread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather ^aa day’s portion every day, that I may ^btest them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be ^ctwice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord ^dwho brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the ^eglory of the Lord, because ^fhe has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For ^gwhat are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is ^hnot against us but against the Lord.”

9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall ⁱeat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 In the evening ^jquail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 And ^kwhen the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”⁵ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer,⁶ according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, ^lwhoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 ^mBut they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy ⁿSabbath to the Lord; ^obake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 ^pSix days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was ^qlike coriander seed, white, and ^rthe taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and ^splace it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. 35 ^tThe people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. ^uThey ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)⁷

Water from the Rock

1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was ^vno water for the people to drink. 2 ^wTherefore the people ^xquarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to ^ydrink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ^ztest the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people ^agrumbled against Moses and said, ^b“Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready ^cto stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff ^dwith which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 ^eBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and ^fwater shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah⁸ and Meribah,⁹ because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Israel Defeats Amalek

8 ^gThen Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill ^hwith the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that ⁱI will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses ^jbuilt an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne¹⁰ of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Teaching About Divorce

1 ^fNow when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 And Pharisees came up to him and ^gtested him by asking, “Is it lawful to ^hdivorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning ⁱmade them male and female, 5 and said, ^j‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, ^k“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your ^lhardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: ^mwhoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”¹

10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is ⁿgiven. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs ^ofor the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Let the Children Come to Me

13 ^pThen children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples ^qrebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, ^r“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

The Rich Young Man

16 ^sAnd behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, ^twhat good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. ^uIf you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, ^v“You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, ^wYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be ^xperfect, go, ^ysell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, ^zfollow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a ^arich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, ^bbut with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, ^cwe have ^dleft everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world,² when the Son of Man will ^esit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also ^fsit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold³ and will ^ginherit eternal life. 30 ^hBut many who are first will be last, and the last first.