Study Desk

So the people contended with Moses, and they said, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord ?"

I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink." And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel.

So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

So Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him, and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

When the hands of Moses became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and so his hands were steady until the sun went down.

So Joshua destroyed Amalek and his army with the sword.

They will judge the people under normal circumstances, and every difficult case they will bring to you, but every small case they themselves will judge, so that you may make it easier for yourself, and they will bear the burden with you.

If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will be able to go home satisfied."

Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and so Jethro went to his own land.

So Moses came and summoned the elders of Israel. He set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him,

and all the people answered together, "All that the Lord has commanded we will do!" So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord .

The Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so that they will always believe in you." And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord .

So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin."

And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.'

"Whoever strikes someone so that he dies must surely be put to death.

"If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she dies as a result of the blow, he will surely be punished.

"If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the eye.

"If an ox gores a man or a woman so that either dies, then the ox must surely be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted.

If the ox of one man injures the ox of his neighbor so that it dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its proceeds, and they will also divide the dead ox.