Bible in a Year.

On the thirty-eighth day, we arrive at Mount Sinai, a pivotal moment in biblical history. Exodus 19-20 describes the people's solemn preparation, God's terrifying descent upon the mountain in fire and thunder, and the proclamation of the Ten Commandments, the moral basis of the covenant with Israel. Leviticus 13 details procedures for diagnosing leprosy and other skin diseases, demonstrating concern for communal purity. Psalm 74 is a lament for the desecration of the sanctuary, calling on God to remember His covenant and defend His cause.

Chapter 19

1. In the third month of the departure of Israel out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai:

2. For departing out of Raphidim, and coming to the desert of Sinai, they camped in the same place, and there Israel pitched their tents over against the mountain.

3. And Moses went up to God: and the Lord called unto him from the mountain, and said: Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:

4. You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, how I have carried you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to myself.

5. If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine.

6. And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation. Those are the words thou shalt speak to the children of Israel.

7. Moses came, and calling together the elders of the people, he declared all the words which the Lord had commanded.

8. And all the people answered together: All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do. And when Moses had related the people's words to the Lord,

9. The Lord said to him: Lo, now will I come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

10. And he said to him: Go to the people, and sanctify them to day, and to morrow, and let them wash their garments.

11. And let them be ready against the third day: for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

12. And thou shalt appoint certain limits to the people round about, and thou shalt say to them: Take heed you go not up into the mount, and that ye touch not the borders thereof: every one that toucheth the mount dying he shall die.

13. No hands shall touch him, but he shall be stoned to death, or shall be shot through with arrows: whether it be beast, or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet shall begin to sound, then let them go up into the mount.

14. And Moses came down from the mount to the people, and sanctified them. And when they had washed their garments,

15. He said to them: Be ready against the third day, and come not near your wives.

16. And now the third day was come, and the morning appeared: and behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash, and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud, and the people that was in the camp, feared.

17. And when Moses had brought them forth to meet God from the place of the camp, they stood at the bottom of the mount.

18. And all mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the mount was terrible.

19. And the sound of the trumpet grew by degrees louder and louder, and was drawn out to a greater length: Moses spoke, and God answered him.

20. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, in the very top of the mount, and he called Moses unto the top thereof. And when he was gone up thither,

21. He said unto him: Go down, and charge the people: lest they should have a mind to pass the limits to see the Lord, and a very great multitude of them should perish.

22. The priests also that come to the Lord, let them be sanctified, lest he strike them.

23. And Moses said to the Lord: The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou did charge, and command, saying: Set limits about the mount, and sanctify it.

24. And the Lord said to him: Go, get thee down: and thou shalt come up, thou and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people pass the limits, nor come up to the Lord, lest he kill them.

25. And Moses went down to the people and told them all.

Chapter 20

1. And the Lord spoke all these words:

2. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

4. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth.

5. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:

6. And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.

8. Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.

9. Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works.

10. But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.

11. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.

12. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.

13. Thou shalt not kill.

14. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15. Thou shalt not steal.

16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

18. And all the people saw the voices and the flames, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mount smoking: and being terrified and struck with fear, they stood afar off,

19. Saying to Moses: Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die.

20. And Moses said to the people: Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that the dread of him might be in you, and you should not sin.

21. And the people stood afar off. But Moses went to the dark cloud wherein God was.

22. And the Lord said to Moses: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

23. You shall not make gods of silver, nor shall you make to yourselves gods of gold.

24. You shall make an altar of earth unto me, and you shall offer upon it your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my name shall be: I will come to thee, and will bless thee.

25. And if thou make an altar of stone unto me, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones: for if thou lift up a tool upon it, it shall be defiled.

26. Thou shalt not go up by steps unto my altar, lest thy nakedness be discovered.

1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

2. The man in whose skin or flesh shalt arise a different colour or a blister, or as it were something shining, that is, the stroke of the leprosy, shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or any one of his sons.

3. And if he see the leprosy in his skin, and the hair turned white, and the place where the leprosy appears lower than the skin and the rest of the flesh: it is the stroke of the leprosy, and upon his judgment he shall be separated.

4. But if there be a shining whiteness in the skin, and not lower than the other flesh, and the hair be of the former colour, the priest shall shut him up seven days.

5. And the seventh day he shall look on him: and if the leprosy be grown no farther, and hath not spread itself in the skin, he shall shut him up again other seven days.

6. And on the seventh day, he shall look on him: if the leprosy be somewhat obscure, and not spread in the skin, he shall declare him clean, because it is but a scab: and the man shall wash his clothes, and shall be clean.

7. But if the leprosy grow again, after he was seen by the priest and restored to cleanness, he shall be brought to him,

8. And shall be condemned of uncleanness.

9. If the stroke of the leprosy be in a man, he shall be brought to the priest,

10. And he shall view him. And when there shall be a white colour in the skin, and it shall have changed the look of the hair, and the living flesh itself shall appear:

11. It shall be judged an inveterate leprosy, and grown into the skin. The priest therefore shall declare him unclean, and shall not shut him up, because he is evidently unclean.

12. But if the leprosy spring out running about in the skin, and cover all the skin from the head to the feet, whatsoever falleth under the sight of the eyes,

13. The priest shall view him, and shall judge that the leprosy which he has is very clean: because it is all turned into whiteness, and therefore the man shall be clean.

14. But when the live flesh shall appear in him,

15. Then by the judgment of the priest he shall be defiled, and shall be reckoned among the unclean: for live flesh, if it be spotted with leprosy, is unclean.

16. And if again it be turned into whiteness, and cover all the man,

17. The priest shall view him, and shall judge him to be clean.

18. When also there has been an ulcer in the flesh and the skin, and it has been healed,

19. And in the place of the ulcer, there appeareth a white scar, or somewhat red, the man shall be brought to the priest:

20. And when he shall see the place of the leprosy lower than the other flesh, and the hair turned white, he shall declare him unclean, for the plague of leprosy is broken out in the ulcer.

21. But if the hair be of the former colour, and the scar somewhat obscure, and be not lower than the flesh that is near it, he shall shut him up seven days.

22. And if it spread, he shall judge him to have the leprosy:

23. But if it stay in its place, it is but the scar of an ulcer, and the man shall be clean.

24. The flesh also and skin that hath been burnt, and after it is healed hath a white or a red scar,

25. The priest shall view it, and if he see it turned white, and the place thereof is lower than the other skin: he shall declare him unclean, because the evil of leprosy is broken out in the scar.

26. But if the colour of the hair be not changed, nor the blemish lower than the other flesh, and the appearance of the leprosy be somewhat obscure, he shall shut him up seven days,

27. And on the seventh day he shall view him: if the leprosy be grown farther in the skin, he shall declare him unclean.

28. But if the whiteness stay in its place, and be not very clear, it is the sore of a burning, and therefore he shall be cleansed, because it is only the scar of a burning.

29. If the leprosy break out in the head or the beard of a man or woman, the Priest shall see them,

30. And if the place be lower than the other flesh, and the hair yellow, and thinner than usual: he shall declare them unclean, because it is the leprosy of the head and the beard;

31. But if he perceive the place of the spot is equal with the flesh that is near it, and the hair black: he shall shut him up seven days,

32. And on the seventh day he shall look upon it. If the spot be not grown, and the hair keep its colour, and the place of the blemish be even with the other flesh:

33. The man shall be shaven all but the place of the spot, and he shall be shut up other seven days:

34. If on the seventh day the evil seem to have stayed in its place, and not lower than the other flesh, he shall cleanse him, and his clothes being washed he shall be clean.

35. But if after his cleansing the spot spread again in the skin,

36. He shall seek no more whether the hair be turned yellow, because he is evidently unclean.

37. But if the spot be stayed, and the hair be black, let him know that the man is healed, and let him confidently pronounce him clean.

38. If a whiteness appear in the skin of a man or a woman,

39. The priest shall view them. If he find that a darkish whiteness shineth in the skin, let him know that it is not the leprosy, but a white blemish, and that the man is clean.

40. The man whose hair falleth off from his head, he is bald and clean:

41. And if the hair fall from his forehead, he is bald before and clean.

42. But if in the bald head or in the bald forehead there be risen a white or reddish colour,

43. And the priest perceive this, he shall condemn him undoubtedly of leprosy which is risen in the bald part.

44. Now whosoever shall be defiled with the leprosy, and is separated by the judgment of the priest,

45. Shall have his clothes hanging loose, his head bare, his mouth covered with a cloth, and he shall cry out that he is defiled and unclean.

46. All the time that he is a leper and unclean, he shall dwell alone without the camp.

47. A woollen or linen garment that shall have the leprosy

48. In the warp, and the woof, or a skin. or whatsoever is made of a skin,

49. If it be infected with a white or red spot, it shall be accounted the leprosy, and shall be shewn to the priest.

50. And he shall look upon it and shall shut it up seven days:

51. 51And on the seventh day when he looketh on it again, if he find that it if grown, it is a Axed leprosy: he shall judge the garment unclean, and every thing wherein it shall be found:

52. And therefore it shall be burnt with fire.

53. But if he see that it is not grown,

54. He shall give orders, and they shall wash that part wherein the leprosy is, and he shall shut it up other seven days.

55. And when he shall see that the former colour is not returned, nor yet the leprosy spread, he shall judge it unclean, and shall burn it with fire, for the leprosy has taken hold of the outside of the garment, or through the whole.

56. But if the place of the leprosy be somewhat dark, after the garment is washed, he shall tear it off, and divide it from that which is sound.

57. And if after this there appear in those places that before were without spot, a flying and wandering leprosy: it must be burnt with fire.

58. If it cease, he shall wash with water the parts that are pure, the second time, and they shall be clean.

59. This is the law touching the leprosy of any woollen or linen garment, either in the warp or woof, or any thing of skins, how it ought to be cleansed, or pronounced unclean.

1. Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

3. Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

4. And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

5. and they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

6. they have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

7. They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

8. They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

9. Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

10. How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

11. Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever ?

12. But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

13. Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14. Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

15. Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

16. Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

17. Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

18. Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.

19. Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

20. Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

21. Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

22. Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

23. Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.