Study Desk

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water.

The entire Israelite community departed from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

As Aaron was speaking to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and there in a cloud the Lord’s glory appeared.

When they measured it by quarts, the person who gathered a lot had no surplus, and the person who gathered a little had no shortage. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat.

But they didn’t listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. Therefore Moses was angry with them.

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.

So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it didn’t stink or have maggots in it.

But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.

So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been and went into the tent.

The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening.

Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”

Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do.

They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every major case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load, and they will bear it with you.

They traveled from Rephidim, came to the Sinai Wilderness, and camped in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

and the Lord told Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes

No hand may touch him; instead he will be stoned or shot with arrows and not live, whether animal or human. When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may go up the mountain.”

Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.