Haftarah First Shabbat (Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7)

Haftarah Second Shabbat (I Kings 7:40 – 50)

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Shavuot Day 1

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Haftarah Readings

Shavuot Day 1

Shavuot Day 2

Morning: Deuteronomy 8:25-8:40

25 When you have begotten children and children’s children and are long established in the land, should you act wickedly and make for yourselves a sculptured image in any likeness, causing the Lord your God displeasure and vexation, 26 I call heaven and earth this day to witness against you that you shall soon perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess; you shall not long endure in it, but shall be utterly wiped out. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a scant few of you shall be left among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. 28 There you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, that cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

29 But if you search there for the Lord your God, you will find Him, if only you seek Him with all your heart and soul — 30 when you are in distress because all these things have befallen you and, in the end, return to the Lord your God and obey Him. 31 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God: He will not fail you nor will He let you perish; He will not forget the covenant which He made on oath with your fathers.

32 You have but to inquire about bygone ages that came before you, ever since God created man on earth, from one end of heaven to the other: has anything as grand as this ever happened, or has its like ever been known? 33 Has any people heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have, and survived? 34 Or has any god ventured to go and take for himself one nation from the midst of another by prodigious acts, by signs and portents, by war, by a mighty and an outstretched arm and awesome power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 It has been clearly demonstrated to you that the Lord alone is God; there is none beside Him. 36 From the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; on earth He let you see His great fire; and from amidst that fire you heard His words. 37 And because He loved your fathers, He chose their heirs after them; He Himself, in His great might, led you out of Egypt, 38 to drive from your path nations greater and more populous than you, to take you into their land and assign it to you as a heritage, as is still the case. 39 Know therefore this day and keep in mind that the Lord alone is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other. 40 Observe His laws and commandments, which I enjoin upon you this day, that it may go well with you and your children after you, and that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is assigning to you for all time.

Afternoon: Exodus 32:11-32:14, 34:1 – 32:10

11 But Moses implored the Lord his God, saying, “Let not Your anger, O Lord, blaze forth against Your people, whom You delivered from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. 12 Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that He delivered them, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.’ Turn from Your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people. 13 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, how You swore to them by Your Self and said to them: I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring this whole land of which I spoke, to possess forever.” 14 And the Lord renounced the punishment He had planned to bring upon His people.

Chapter 34

1 The Lord said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered. 2 Be ready by morning, and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain. 3 No one else shall come up with you, and no one else shall be seen anywhere on the mountain; neither shall the flocks and the herds graze at the foot of this mountain.”

4 So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him. 5 The Lord came down in a cloud; He stood with him there, and proclaimed the name Lord. 6The Lord passed before him and proclaimed: “The Lord! the Lord! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, 7 extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

8 Moses hastened to bow low to the ground in homage, 9 and said, “If I have gained Your favor, O Lord, pray, let the Lord go in our midst, even though this is a stiffnecked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!”

10 He said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will work such wonders as have not been wrought on all the earth or in any nation; and all the people who are with you shall see how awesome are the Lord’s deeds which I will perform for you.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Day 1

Genesis 21:1-34 & Numbers 29:1-6

Chapter 21
¹ The Lord took note of Sarah as He had promised, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. ²Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken. ³ Abraham gave his newborn son, whom Sarah had borne him, the name of Isaac. ⁴ And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she added,
“Who would have said to Abraham
That Sarah would suckle children!
Yet I have borne a son in his old age.”

⁸ The child grew up and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing. ¹⁰ She said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ The matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued for you. ¹³ As for the son of the slave-woman, I will make a nation of him, too, for he is your seed.”

¹⁴ Early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away. And she wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. ¹⁵ When the water was gone from the skin, she left the child under one of the bushes, ¹⁶ and went and sat down at a distance, a bowshot away; for she thought, “Let me not look on as the child dies.” And sitting thus afar, she burst into tears.

¹⁷ God heard the cry of the boy, and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Come, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink. ²⁰God was with the boy and he grew up; he dwelt in the wilderness and became a bowman. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²² At that time Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you do. ²³ Therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my kith and kin, but will deal with me and with the land in which you have sojourned as loyally as I have dealt with you.” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵ Then Abraham reproached Abimelech for the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. ²⁶ But Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this; you did not tell me, nor have I heard of it until today.” ²⁷ Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a pact. ²⁸ Abraham then set seven ewes of the flock by themselves, ²⁹ and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What mean these seven ewes which you have set apart?” ³⁰ He replied, “You are to accept these seven ewes from me as proof that I dug this well.” ³¹ Hence that place was called Beer-sheba, for there the two of them swore an oath. ³² When they had concluded the pact at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, departed and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³[Abraham] planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and invoked there the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines a long time.

Numbers 29
¹ In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded. ² You shall present a burnt offering of pleasing odor to the Lord: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs, without blemish. 3 The meal offering with them — choice flour with oil mixed in — shall be: three-tenths of a measure for a bull, two-tenths for a ram, ⁴ and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. ⁵ And there shall be one goat for a sin offering, to make expiation in your behalf — ⁶ in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering and the regular burnt offering with its meal offering, each with its libation as prescribed, offerings by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.

Day 2

Genesis 22:1-24 & Numbers 29:1-6

Chapter 22
¹ Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.” ² And He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.” ³ So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the ass. The boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together. ⁷ Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” ⁸ And Abraham said, “God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.

⁹ They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” ¹² And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.” ¹³ When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham named that site Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, “On the mount of the Lord there is vision.”

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶ and said, “By Myself I swear, the Lord declares: Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your favored one, ¹⁷ I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. ¹⁸All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command.” ¹⁹ Abraham then returned to his servants, and they departed together for Beer-sheba; and Abraham stayed in Beer-sheba.

²⁰ Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah too has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz the first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram; ²² and Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel” — ²³ Bethuel being the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Numbers 29
¹ In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded. ² You shall present a burnt offering of pleasing odor to the Lord: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs, without blemish. ³ The meal offering with them — choice flour with oil mixed in — shall be: three-tenths of a measure for a bull, two-tenths for a ram, ⁴ and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. ⁵ And there shall be one goat for a sin offering, to make expiation in your behalf — ⁶ in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering and the regular burnt offering with its meal offering, each with its libation as prescribed, offerings by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Exodus 30:11 – 34:35

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹² When you take a census of the Israelite people according to their enrollment, each shall pay the Lord a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled. ¹³ This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay: a half-shekel by the sanctuary weight — twenty gerahs to the shekel — a half-shekel as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ Everyone who is entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, shall give the Lord’s offering: ¹⁵ the rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel when giving the Lord’s offering as expiation for your persons. ¹⁶ You shall take the expiation money from the Israelites and assign it to the service of the Tent of Meeting; it shall serve the Israelites as a reminder before the Lord, as expiation for your persons.

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁸ Make a laver of copper and a stand of copper for it, for washing; and place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar. Put water in it, ¹⁹ and let Aaron and his sons wash their hands and feet [in water drawn] from it. ²⁰ When they enter the Tent of Meeting they shall wash with water, that they may not die; or when they approach the altar to serve, to turn into smoke an offering by fire to the Lord, ²¹ they shall wash their hands and feet, that they may not die. It shall be a law for all time for them — for him and his offspring — throughout the ages.

²² The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²³ Next take choice spices: five hundred weight of solidified myrrh, half as much — two hundred and fifty — of fragrant cinnamon, two hundred and fifty of aromatic cane, ²⁴ five hundred — by the sanctuary weight — of cassia, and a hin of olive oil. ²⁵ Make of this a sacred anointing oil, a compound of ingredients expertly blended, to serve as sacred anointing oil. ²⁶ With it anoint the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Pact, ²⁷ the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and all its fittings, the altar of incense,²⁸ the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand. ²⁹ Thus you shall consecrate them so that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be consecrated. ³⁰ You shall also anoint Aaron and his sons, consecrating them to serve Me as priests.

³¹ And speak to the Israelite people, as follows: This shall be an anointing oil sacred to Me throughout the ages. ³² It must not be rubbed on any person’s body, and you must not make anything like it in the same proportions; it is sacred, to be held sacred by you. ³³ Whoever compounds its like, or puts any of it on a layman, shall be cut off from his kin.

³⁴ And the Lord said to Moses: Take the herbs stacte, onycha, and galbanum — these herbs together with pure frankincense; let there be an equal part of each. ³⁵ Make them into incense, a compound expertly blended, refined, pure, sacred. ³⁶ Beat some of it into powder, and put some before the Pact in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you. ³⁷ But when you make this incense, you must not make any in the same proportions for yourselves; it shall be held by you sacred to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it, to smell of it, shall be cut off from his kin.

Chapter 31 
¹ The Lord spoke to Moses: ² See, I have singled out by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³ I have endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft; ⁴ to make designs for work in gold, silver, and copper, ⁵ to cut stones for setting and to carve wood — to work in every kind of craft. ⁶ Moreover, I have assigned to him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have also granted skill to all who are skillful, that they may make everything that I have commanded you: ⁷the Tent of Meeting, the Ark for the Pact and the cover upon it, and all the furnishings of the Tent; ⁸ the table and its utensils, the pure lampstand and all its fittings, and the altar of incense; ⁹ the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand; ¹⁰ the service vestments, the sacral vestments of Aaron the priest and the vestments of his sons, for their service as priests; ¹¹ as well as the anointing oil and the aromatic incense for the sanctuary. Just as I have commanded you, they shall do.

¹² And the Lord said to Moses: ¹³ Speak to the Israelite people and say: Nevertheless, you must keep My sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you. ¹⁴ You shall keep the sabbath, for it is holy for you. He who profanes it shall be put to death: whoever does work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his kin. ¹⁵ Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does work on the sabbath day shall be put to death. ¹⁶ The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time: ¹⁷ it shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed.

¹⁸ When He finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the Pact, stone tablets inscribed with the finger of God.

Chapter 32 
¹ When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt — we do not know what has happened to him.” ² Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ This he took from them and cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced: “Tomorrow shall be a festival of the Lord!” ⁶Early next day, the people offered up burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; they sat down to eat and drink, and then rose to dance.

⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, “Hurry down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted basely. ⁸ They have been quick to turn aside from the way that I enjoined upon them. They have made themselves a molten calf and bowed low to it and sacrificed to it, saying: ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!'”

⁹ The Lord further said to Moses, “I see that this is a stiffnecked people. ¹⁰ Now, let Me be, that My anger may blaze forth against them and that I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation.” ¹¹ But Moses implored the Lord his God, saying, “Let not Your anger, O Lord, blaze forth against Your people, whom You delivered from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. ¹² Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that He delivered them, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.’ Turn from Your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people. ¹³ Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, how You swore to them by Your Self and said to them: I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring this whole land of which I spoke, to possess forever.” ¹⁴ And the Lord renounced the punishment He had planned to bring upon His people.

¹⁵ Thereupon Moses turned and went down from the mountain bearing the two tablets of the Pact, tablets inscribed on both their surfaces: they were inscribed on the one side and on the other. ¹⁶ The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, incised upon the tablets. ¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people in its boisterousness, he said to Moses, “There is a cry of war in the camp.” ¹⁸ But he answered,
    “It is not the sound of the tune of triumph,
    Or the sound of the tune of defeat;
    It is the sound of song that I hear!”

¹⁹ As soon as Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became enraged; and he hurled the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ He took the calf that they had made and burned it; he ground it to powder and strewed it upon the water and so made the Israelites drink it.

²¹ Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such great sin upon them?” ²² Aaron said, “Let not my lord be enraged. You know that this people is bent on evil. ²³ They said to me, ‘Make us a god to lead us; for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt — we do not know what has happened to him.’ ²⁴ So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off!’ They gave it to me and I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!”

²⁵ Moses saw that the people were out of control — since Aaron had let them get out of control — so that they were a menace to any who might oppose them. ²⁶ Moses stood up in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come here!” And all the Levites rallied to him. ²⁷ He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Each of you put sword on thigh, go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay brother, neighbor, and kin.” ²⁸ The Levites did as Moses had bidden; and some three thousand of the people fell that day. ²⁹ And Moses said, “Dedicate yourselves to the Lord this day — for each of you has been against son and brother — that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have been guilty of a great sin. Yet I will now go up to the Lord; perhaps I may win forgiveness for your sin.” ³¹ Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people is guilty of a great sin in making for themselves a god of gold. ³² Now, if You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, erase me from the record which You have written!” ³³ But the Lord said to Moses, “He who has sinned against Me, him only will I erase from My record. ³⁴ Go now, lead the people where I told you. See, My angel shall go before you. But when I make an accounting, I will bring them to account for their sins.”

³⁵ Then the Lord sent a plague upon the people, for what they did with the calf that Aaron made.

Chapter 33 
¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Set out from here, you and the people that you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring will I give it’ — ² I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites — ³ a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go in your midst, since you are a stiffnecked people, lest I destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard this harsh word, they went into mourning, and none put on his finery.

⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelite people, ‘You are a stiffnecked people. If I were to go in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now, then, leave off your finery, and I will consider what to do to you.'” ⁶ So the Israelites remained stripped of the finery from Mount Horeb on.

⁷ Now Moses would take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp, at some distance from the camp. It was called the Tent of Meeting, and whoever sought the Lord would go out to the Tent of Meeting that was outside the camp. ⁸ Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he had entered the Tent. ⁹ And when Moses entered the Tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the Tent, while He spoke with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the pillar of cloud poised at the entrance of the Tent, all the people would rise and bow low, each at the entrance of his tent. ¹¹ The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another. And he would then return to the camp; but his attendant, Joshua son of Nun, a youth, would not stir out of the Tent.

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Lead this people forward,’ but You have not made known to me whom You will send with me. Further, You have said, ‘I have singled you out by name, and you have, indeed, gained My favor.’ ¹³ Now, if I have truly gained Your favor, pray let me know Your ways, that I may know You and continue in Your favor. Consider, too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “I will go in the lead and will lighten your burden.” ¹⁵ And he said to Him, “Unless You go in the lead, do not make us leave this place. ¹⁶ For how shall it be known that Your people have gained Your favor unless You go with us, so that we may be distinguished, Your people and I, from every people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have asked; for you have truly gained My favor and I have singled you out by name.” ¹⁸ He said, “Oh, let me behold Your Presence!” ¹⁹ And He answered, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you the name Lord, and the grace that I grant and the compassion that I show. ²⁰ But,” He said, “you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live.” ²¹ And the Lord said, “See, there is a place near Me. Station yourself on the rock ²² and, as My Presence passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.”

Chapter 34 
¹ The Lord said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered. ² Be ready by morning, and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain. ³ No one else shall come up with you, and no one else shall be seen anywhere on the mountain; neither shall the flocks and the herds graze at the foot of this mountain.”

⁴ So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him. ⁵ The Lord came down in a cloud; He stood with him there, and proclaimed the name Lord. ⁶The Lord passed before him and proclaimed: “The Lord! the Lord! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, ⁷ extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

⁸ Moses hastened to bow low to the ground in homage, ⁹ and said, “If I have gained Your favor, O Lord, pray, let the Lord go in our midst, even though this is a stiffnecked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!”

¹⁰ He said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will work such wonders as have not been wrought on all the earth or in any nation; and all the people who are with you shall see how awesome are the Lord’s deeds which I will perform for you. ¹¹ Mark well what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ¹² Beware of making a covenant with the inhabitants of the land against which you are advancing, lest they be a snare in your midst. ¹³ No, you must tear down their altars, smash their pillars, and cut down their sacred posts; ¹⁴ for you must not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Impassioned, is an impassioned God. ¹⁵ You must not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for they will lust after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and invite you, and you will eat of their sacrifices. ¹⁶ And when you take wives from among their daughters for your sons, their daughters will lust after their gods and will cause your sons to lust after their gods.

¹⁷ You shall not make molten gods for yourselves.

¹⁸ You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread — eating unleavened bread for seven days, as I have commanded you — at the set time of the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you went forth from Egypt.

¹⁹ Every first issue of the womb is Mine, from all your livestock that drop a male as firstling, whether cattle or sheep.

²⁰ But the firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. And you must redeem every first-born among your sons.

None shall appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹ Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor; you shall cease from labor even at plowing time and harvest time.

²² You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. ²³ Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. ²⁴ I will drive out nations from your path and enlarge your territory; no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times a year.

²⁵ You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened; and the sacrifice of the Feast of Passover shall not be left lying until morning.

²⁶ The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.

You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

²⁷ And the Lord said to Moses: Write down these commandments, for in accordance with these commandments I make a covenant with you and with Israel.

²⁸ And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water; and he wrote down on the tablets the terms of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

²⁹ So Moses came down from Mount Sinai. And as Moses came down from the mountain bearing the two tablets of the Pact, Moses was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant, since he had spoken with Him. ³⁰ Aaron and all the Israelites saw that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant; and they shrank from coming near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the chieftains in the assembly returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he instructed them concerning all that the Lord had imparted to him on Mount Sinai. ³³ And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

³⁴ Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would leave the veil off until he came out; and when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵ the Israelites would see how radiant the skin of Moses’ face was. Moses would then put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Exodus 27:20 – 30:10

²⁰ You shall further instruct the Israelites to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. ²¹ Aaron and his sons shall set them up in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain which is over [the Ark of] the Pact, [to burn] from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a due from the Israelites for all time, throughout the ages.

Chapter 28
¹ You shall bring forward your brother Aaron, with his sons, from among the Israelites, to serve Me as priests: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron. ² Make sacral vestments for your brother Aaron, for dignity and adornment. ³ Next you shall instruct all who are skillful, whom I have endowed with the gift of skill, to make Aaron’s vestments, for consecrating him to serve Me as priest. ⁴ These are the vestments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fringed tunic, a headdress, and a sash. They shall make those sacral vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons, for priestly service to Me; ⁵ they, therefore, shall receive the gold, the blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and the fine linen.

⁶ They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen, worked into designs. ⁷ It shall have two shoulder-pieces attached; they shall be attached at its two ends. ⁸ And the decorated band that is upon it shall be made like it, of one piece with it: of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen. ⁹ Then take two lazuli stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: ¹⁰ six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. ¹¹ On the two stones you shall make seal engravings — the work of a lapidary — of the names of the sons of Israel. Having bordered them with frames of gold, ¹² attach the two stones to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, as stones for remembrance of the Israelite people, whose names Aaron shall carry upon his two shoulder-pieces for remembrance before the Lord.

¹³ Then make frames of gold ¹⁴ and two chains of pure gold; braid these like corded work, and fasten the corded chains to the frames.

¹⁵ You shall make a breastpiece of decision, worked into a design; make it in the style of the ephod: make it of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen. ¹⁶ It shall be square and doubled, a span in length and a span in width. ¹⁷ Set in it mounted stones, in four rows of stones. The first row shall be a row of carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald; ¹⁸ the second row: a turquoise, a sapphire, and an amethyst; ¹⁹ the third row: a jacinth, an agate, and a crystal; ²⁰ and the fourth row: a beryl, a lapis lazuli, and a jasper. They shall be framed with gold in their mountings. ²¹ The stones shall correspond [in number] to the names of the sons of Israel: twelve, corresponding to their names. They shall be engraved like seals, each with its name, for the twelve tribes.

²² On the breastpiece make braided chains of corded work in pure gold. ²³ Make two rings of gold on the breastpiece, and fasten the two rings at the two ends of the breastpiece, ²⁴ attaching the two golden cords to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece. ²⁵ Then fasten the two ends of the cords to the two frames, which you shall attach to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, at the front. ²⁶ Make two rings of gold and attach them to the two ends of the breastpiece, at its inner edge, which faces the ephod. ²⁷ And make two other rings of gold and fasten them on the front of the ephod, low on the two shoulder-pieces, close to its seam above the decorated band. ²⁸ The breastpiece shall be held in place by a cord of blue from its rings to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece rests on the decorated band and does not come loose from the ephod. ²⁹ Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel on the breastpiece of decision over his heart, when he enters the sanctuary, for remembrance before the Lord at all times. ³⁰ Inside the breastpiece of decision you shall place the Urim and Thummim, so that they are over Aaron’s heart when he comes before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall carry the instrument of decision for the Israelites over his heart before the Lord at all times.

³¹ You shall make the robe of the ephod of pure blue. ³² The opening for the head shall be in the middle of it; the opening shall have a binding of woven work round about — it shall be like the opening of a coat of mail — so that it does not tear. ³³ On its hem make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the hem, with bells of gold between them all around: ³⁴ a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe. ³⁵ Aaron shall wear it while officiating, so that the sound of it is heard when he comes into the sanctuary before the Lord and when he goes out — that he may not die.

³⁶ You shall make a frontlet of pure gold and engrave on it the seal inscription: “Holy to the Lord.” ³⁷ Suspend it on a cord of blue, so that it may remain on the headdress; it shall remain on the front of the headdress. ³⁸ It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may take away any sin arising from the holy things that the Israelites consecrate, from any of their sacred donations; it shall be on his forehead at all times, to win acceptance for them before the Lord.
     ³⁹ You shall make the fringed tunic of fine linen.
    You shall make the headdress of fine linen.
    You shall make the sash of embroidered work.

⁴⁰ And for Aaron’s sons also you shall make tunics, and make sashes for them, and make turbans for them, for dignity and adornment. ⁴¹ Put these on your brother Aaron and on his sons as well; anoint them, and ordain them and consecrate them to serve Me as priests.

⁴² You shall also make for them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; they shall extend from the hips to the thighs. ⁴³ They shall be worn by Aaron and his sons when they enter the Tent of Meeting or when they approach the altar to officiate in the sanctuary, so that they do not incur punishment and die. It shall be a law for all time for him and for his offspring to come.

Chapter 29
¹ This is what you shall do to them in consecrating them to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull of the herd and two rams without blemish; ² also unleavened bread, unleavened cakes with oil mixed in, and unleavened wafers spread with oil — make these of choice wheat flour. ³ Place these in one basket and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ Lead Aaron and his sons up to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water. ⁵ Then take the vestments, and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the decorated band of the ephod. ⁶ Put the headdress on his head, and place the holy diadem upon the headdress. ⁷ Take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. ⁸ Then bring his sons forward; clothe them with tunics ⁹ and wind turbans upon them. And gird both Aaron and his sons with sashes. And so they shall have priesthood as their right for all time.

You shall then ordain Aaron and his sons. ¹⁰ Lead the bull up to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and let Aaron and his sons lay their hands upon the head of the bull. ¹¹ Slaughter the bull before the Lord, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, ¹² and take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; then pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³ Take all the fat that covers the entrails, the protuberance on the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them, and turn them into smoke upon the altar.¹⁴ The rest of the flesh of the bull, its hide, and its dung shall be put to the fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

¹⁵ Next take the one ram, and let Aaron and his sons lay their hands upon the ram’s head. ¹⁶ Slaughter the ram, and take its blood and dash it against all sides of the altar. ¹⁷ Cut up the ram into sections, wash its entrails and legs, and put them with its quarters and its head. ¹⁸Turn all of the ram into smoke upon the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord.

¹⁹ Then take the other ram, and let Aaron and his sons lay their hands upon the ram’s head. ²⁰ Slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the ridge of Aaron’s right ear and on the ridges of his sons’ right ears, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet; and dash the rest of the blood against every side of the altar round about. ²¹ Take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle upon Aaron and his vestments, and also upon his sons and his sons’ vestments. Thus shall he and his vestments be holy, as well as his sons and his sons’ vestments.

²² You shall take from the ram the fat parts — the broad tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the protuberance on the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them — and the right thigh; for this is a ram of ordination. ²³ Add one flat loaf of bread, one cake of oil bread, and one wafer, from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. ²⁴ Place all these on the palms of Aaron and his sons, and offer them as an elevation offering before the Lord. ²⁵ Take them from their hands and turn them into smoke upon the altar with the burnt offering, as a pleasing odor before the Lord; it is an offering by fire to the Lord.

²⁶ Then take the breast of Aaron’s ram of ordination and offer it as an elevation offering before the Lord; it shall be your portion. ²⁷ You shall consecrate the breast that was offered as an elevation offering and the thigh that was offered as a gift offering from the ram of ordination — from that which was Aaron’s and from that which was his sons’ — ²⁸ and those parts shall be a due for all time from the Israelites to Aaron and his descendants. For they are a gift; and so shall they be a gift from the Israelites, their gift to the Lord out of their sacrifices of well-being.

²⁹ The sacral vestments of Aaron shall pass on to his sons after him, for them to be anointed and ordained in. ³⁰ He among his sons who becomes priest in his stead, who enters the Tent of Meeting to officiate within the sanctuary, shall wear them seven days.

³¹ You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in the sacred precinct; ³² and Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. ^{33 These things shall be eaten only by those for whom expiation was made with them when they were ordained and consecrated; they may not be eaten by a layman, for they are holy. 34} And if any of the flesh of ordination, or any of the bread, is left until morning, you shall put what is left to the fire; it shall not be eaten, for it is holy.

³⁵ Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, just as I have commanded you. You shall ordain them through seven days, 36 and each day you shall prepare a bull as a sin offering for expiation; you shall purge the altar by performing purification upon it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷ Seven days you shall perform purification for the altar to consecrate it, and the altar shall become most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become consecrated.

³⁸ Now this is what you shall offer upon the altar: two yearling lambs each day, regularly. ³⁹ You shall offer the one lamb in the morning, and you shall offer the other lamb at twilight. ⁴⁰ There shall be a tenth of a measure of choice flour with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil mixed in, and a libation of a quarter hin of wine for one lamb; ⁴¹ and you shall offer the other lamb at twilight, repeating with it the meal offering of the morning with its libation — an offering by fire for a pleasing odor to the Lord, ⁴² a regular burnt offering throughout the generations, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the Lord.

For there I will meet with you, and there I will speak with you, ⁴³ and there I will meet with the Israelites, and it shall be sanctified by My Presence. ⁴⁴ I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests. ⁴⁵ I will abide among the Israelites, and I will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I the Lord am their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt that I might abide among them, I the Lord their God.

Chapter 30
¹ You shall make an altar for burning incense; make it of acacia wood. ² It shall be a cubit long and a cubit wide — it shall be square — and two cubits high, its horns of one piece with it. ³ Overlay it with pure gold: its top, its sides round about, and its horns; and make a gold molding for it round about. ⁴ And make two gold rings for it under its molding; make them on its two side walls, on opposite sides. They shall serve as holders for poles with which to carry it. ⁵ Make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

⁶ Place it in front of the curtain that is over the Ark of the Pact — in front of the cover that is over the Pact — where I will meet with you. ⁷ On it Aaron shall burn aromatic incense: he shall burn it every morning when he tends the lamps, ⁸ and Aaron shall burn it at twilight when he lights the lamps — a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout the ages. ⁹ You shall not offer alien incense on it, or a burnt offering or a meal offering; neither shall you pour a libation on it. ¹⁰ Once a year Aaron shall perform purification upon its horns with blood of the sin offering of purification; purification shall be performed upon it once a year throughout the ages. It is most holy to the Lord.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.