Daily Bible Reading
Day 54
Today's reading: Exodus 22-24
Look for the promises in God’s word. As you read and find them, write them in your journal along with the scripture reference.
Exodus 22
Laws about Property
1. “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox, and four sheep for the one sheep.
2. “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him.
3. If the sun has risen on him, then there is blood guilt for him. A thief must surely make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft.
4. If the stolen item should in fact be found alive in his possession, whether it be an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he must pay back double.
5. “If a man grazes his livestock in a field or a vineyard, and he lets the livestock loose and they graze in the field of another man, he must make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.
6. “If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or standing grain or the whole field is consumed, the one who started the fire must surely make restitution.
7. “If a man gives his neighbor money or articles for safekeeping, and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, he must repay double.
8. If the thief is not caught, then the owner of the house will be brought before the judges to see whether he has laid his hand on his neighbor’s goods.
9. In all cases of illegal possessions, whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says ‘This belongs to me,’ the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, and the one whom the judges declare guilty must repay double to his neighbor.
10. If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt or is carried away without anyone seeing it,
11. then there will be an oath to the Lord between the two of them, that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor’s goods, and its owner will accept this, and he will not have to pay.
12. But if it was stolen from him, he will pay its owner.
13. If it is torn in pieces, then he will bring it for evidence, and he will not have to pay for what was torn.
14. “If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it is hurt or dies when its owner was not with it, the man who borrowed it will surely pay.
15. If its owner was with it, he will not have to pay; if it was hired, what was paid for the hire covers it.
Moral and Ceremonial Laws
16. “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged and has sexual relations with her, he must surely endow her to be his wife.
17. If her father refuses to give her to him, he must pay money for the bride price of virgins.
18. “You must not allow a sorceress to live.
19. “Whoever has sexual relations with a beast must surely be put to death.
20. “Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord alone must be utterly destroyed.
21. “You must not wrong a foreigner nor oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
22. “You must not afflict any widow or orphan.
23. If you afflict them in any way and they cry to me, I will surely hear their cry,
24. and my anger will burn and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children will be fatherless.
25. “If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest.
26. If you do take the garment of your neighbor in pledge, you must return it to him by the time the sun goes down,
27. for it is his only covering – it is his garment for his body. What else can he sleep in? And when he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am gracious.
28. “You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
29. “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. You must give me the firstborn of your sons.
30. You must also do this for your oxen and for your sheep; seven days they may remain with their mothers, but give them to me on the eighth day.
31. “You will be holy people to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. You must throw it to the dogs.
Exodus 23
Justice
1. “You must not give a false report. Do not make common cause with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
2. “You must not follow a crowd in doing evil things; in a lawsuit you must not offer testimony that agrees with a crowd so as to pervert justice,
3. and you must not show partiality to a poor man in his lawsuit.
4. “If you encounter your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you must by all means return it to him.
5. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, but be sure to help him with it.
6. “You must not turn away justice for your poor people in their lawsuits.
7. Keep your distance from a false charge – do not kill the innocent and the righteous, for I will not justify the wicked.
8. “You must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and subverts the words of the righteous.
9. “You must not oppress a foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Sabbaths and Feasts
10. “For six years you are to sow your land and gather in its produce.
11. But in the seventh year you must let it lie fallow and leave it alone so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave any animal in the field may eat; you must do likewise with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12. For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant’s son and any hired help may refresh themselves.
13. “Pay attention to do everything I have told you, and do not even mention the names of other gods – do not let them be heard on your lips.
14. “Three times in the year you must make a pilgrim feast to me.
15. You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before me empty-handed.
16. “You are also to observe the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you have gathered in your harvest out of the field.
17. At three times in the year all your males will appear before the Lord God.
18. “You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning.
19. The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
The Angel of the Presence
20. “I am going to send an angel before you to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.
21. Take heed because of him, and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him.
22. But if you diligently obey him and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.
23. For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them completely.
24. “You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones to pieces.
25. You must serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst.
26. No woman will miscarry her young or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
27. “I will send my terror before you, and I will destroy all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
28. I will send hornets before you that will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you.
29. I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you.
30. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.
31. I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
32. “You must make no covenant with them or with their gods.
33. They must not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Exodus 24
The Lord Ratifies the Covenant
1. But to Moses the Lord said, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance.
2. Moses alone may come near the Lord, but the others must not come near, nor may the people go up with him.”
3. Moses came and told the people all the Lord’s words and all the decisions. All the people answered together, “We are willing to do all the words that the Lord has said,”
4. and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and arranged twelve standing stones – according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
5. He sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls for peace offerings to the Lord.
6. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar.
7. He took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey all that the Lord has spoken.”
8. So Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
9. Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up,
10. and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself.
11. But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank.
12. The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me to the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them.”
13. So Moses set out with Joshua his attendant, and Moses went up the mountain of God.
14. He told the elders, “Wait for us in this place until we return to you. Here are Aaron and Hur with you. Whoever has any matters of dispute can approach them.”
15. Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
16. The glory of the Lord resided on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from within the cloud.
17. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in plain view of the people.
18. Moses went into the cloud when he went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.