Exodus 34
A Second Set of Tablets
1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke.
2 So be ready in the morning to come up on Mount Sinai and to present yourself to Me there on top of the mountain.
3 But no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither sheep nor oxen feed before that mountain.”
4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai as the Lord commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.
5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud; and He stood with him there, and he called upon the name of the Lord.†
6 Then the Lord passed before his face and proclaimed, “The Lord God, compassionate, merciful, longsuffering, abounding in mercy and true,†
7 preserving righteousness and showing mercy unto thousands, taking away lawlessness, wrongdoing, and sins; and He will not clear the guilty, visiting the lawlessness of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the ground and worshiped.
9 Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, let my Lord go with us, for the people are stiff-necked; and You will take away our sins and lawlessness, and we will be Yours.”†
The Covenant Is Renewed
10 The Lord then said to Moses, “Behold, I am establishing a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the works of the Lord, for I will do awesome things for you.
11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Gergesite, and the Jeb- usite.
12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a stumbling-block in your midst.
13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their groves; and you shall burn the graven images of their gods with fire
14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord God, a jealous name, is a jealous God),†
15 lest you make a covenant with the foreigners of the land; and they indulge themselves in gross immorality with their gods by making sacrifice to them; and they invite you, and you eat of their sacrifices;
16 and you take of their daughters for your sons and give your daughters to their sons; and your daughters commit fornication with their gods, and your sons commit fornication with their gods.
17 You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.
18 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the season in the month of new grain; for in the month of new grain you came out from Egypt.
19 All that open the womb are Mine: every male firstborn among your livestock, of oxen or sheep.
20 But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a sheep, and if you will not redeem it, you shall pay a price. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem, and none shall appear before Me empty-handed.
21 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. There shall be rest in seedtime and harvest.
22 You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.
23 “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God of Israel.
24 For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.
25 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifices with leaven, nor shall the sacrifices from the Feast of Pascha be left until morning.
26 The first fruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a lamb in its mother’s milk.”
27 Again the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words for yourself, for according to these words I established a covenant with you and with Israel.”
28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Moses’ Face Shines
29 Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), he did not know the skin of his face was glorified while God talked with Him.†
30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses and the glorified appearance of the skin of his face, they were afraid to come near him.
31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them.
32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord commanded him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34 But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever the Lord commanded him.
35 So the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that it was glorified; and Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with Him.
Psalms 72
1 A psalm for Asaph. †How good God is to Israel, To the upright in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost shaken; My steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was jealous of the lawless When I beheld the peace of sinners.
4 For there is no upward gaze at their death Nor steadfastness in their chastening.
5 They are not in difficulties as other men, And they shall not be chastened with other men.
6 For this reason arrogance mastered them; They clothed themselves with their wrongdoing and ungodliness;
7 Their wrongdoing shall go forth as from fatness; They passed through to their heart’s intent.
8 They thought and spoke in evil; They spoke in wrongdoing to the height.
9 They set their mouth against heaven, And their tongue passed through the earth.
10 For this reason my people shall return here; Days of fullness shall be found in them.
11 They said, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are sinners, and they prosper; They possess wealth in this age.
13 And I said, “Surely in vain have I kept my heart righteous, And washed my hands with the innocent.”
14 For all day long I was scourged, And my reproof persisted through the night.
Proverbs of Solomon 15
Righteous Responses
1 Wrath destroys even men of discernment; But a humble answer turns away anger, And a grievous word stirs up wrath.†
2 The tongue of the wise understands good things, But the mouth of those without discernment proclaims evil things.
3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place; They keep watch over both the evil and the good.†
4 The healing of the tongue is a tree of life, And the one who guards it will be filled with the Spirit.†
5 A son without discernment treats the instruction of his father with contempt, But the one who guards his commandments is more astute.
Luke 2
Christ Born in the City of David
1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.†
2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.
3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.†
The Witness of the Shepherds
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.†
9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:†
14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.
17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.†
18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
The Naming of Jesus
21 And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.†
Jesus Dedicated in the Temple
22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord†
23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD”) ,
24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”