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.1 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,2 and he othrew it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the Lord3 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?”4 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,5 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.)6
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 Massah7 and Meribah,8 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 throne9 of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Jethro’s Advice
1 Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how kthe Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home, 3 along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, l“I have been a sojourner10 in a foreign land”), 4 and the name of the other, Eliezer11 (for he said, “The God of my father was my mhelp, and ndelivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). 5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at othe mountain of God. 6 And when he sent word to Moses, “I,12 your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” 7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and pbowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.
Jesus Greater Than Moses
1 Therefore, holy brothers,1 you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and ahigh priest of our bconfession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as cMoses also was faithful in all God’s2 house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now dMoses was faithful in all God’s house as a eservant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a fson. And gwe are his house, hif indeed we ihold fast our jconfidence and our kboasting in our lhope.3
A Rest for the People of God
7 Therefore, mas the Holy Spirit says,
n“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in othe prebellion,
on the day of qtesting in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But rexhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,
s“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, twhose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he uswear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were vdisobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of wunbelief.
1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
The Baptism of Jesus
13 rThen Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all srighteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, tthe heavens were opened to him,1 and he saw the uSpirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, v“This is my wbeloved Son,2 xwith whom I am well pleased.”
The Temptation of Jesus
1 yThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the zwilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after afasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the bSon of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
c“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
dbut by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
e“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
f“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, g‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a hvery high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you iwill fall down and jworship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
k“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, langels came and were ministering to him.
Jesus Begins His Ministry
12 mNow when he heard that John had been narrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in oCapernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be pfulfilled:
15 q“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has rdawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, s“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is tat hand.”3
