Out of Egypt · c. 1446 BC
Chapter 9
The Book of the Covenant
He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “We will do all that Yahweh has said, and be obedient.”
For parents
This chapter sums up Israel’s first laws, and some of them are hard. In plain, soft words it tells of servants who were bought and a daughter sold as a servant (Exodus 21:2–11); masters who beat their servants, even to death (21:20–21, 26–27); a pregnant woman hurt in a fight, where “eye for eye” comes in (21:22–25); a bull that gores people to death, and its owner put to death (21:28–32); and a thief who may be killed while breaking in, or sold if he can’t pay (22:2–3). Death is the punishment for killing someone, for attacking or cursing a parent, and for kidnapping, sorcery, sex with an animal, and sacrifice to other gods (21:12–17; 22:18–20). One law is about a man who talks a young woman into sleeping with him (22:16–17). The Lord warns that he will kill anyone who mistreats widows and fatherless children (22:22–24), and promises to destroy the peoples of Canaan and drive them out (23:23, 27–31).
The went on speaking to . “These are the laws you are to give the people,” he said.
The first laws were about servants. If someone bought a servant, the servant was to work for him six years. In the seventh year he was to go free, without paying anything. If he had come by himself, he would leave by himself. If he had a wife when he came, she would go free with him. But if his master gave him a wife, and she had sons or daughters, the wife and her children would belong to her master, and the servant would go free on his own.
But suppose the servant said plainly, “I love my master, my wife and my children. I won’t go free.” Then his master was to bring him to God. He was to take him to the door or the doorpost and bore a hole through his ear with an awl, a sharp, pointed tool. After that, the servant would serve his master for life.
A man might sell his daughter as a servant. She was not to go free the way the men did. If her master had taken her as his wife and then wasn’t pleased with her, he had to let her be bought back. He had no right to sell her to a foreign people, because he had cheated her. If he gave her to his son as a wife, he had to treat her like a daughter. If he took another wife for himself, he must not give the first one less food or clothing, or take away her rights as a wife. If he didn’t do these three things for her, she could go free without paying any money.
Then came laws about hurting and killing. Anyone who hit someone and killed him was to be put to death. But if he didn’t mean to do it, and God allowed it to happen, there would be somewhere for him to go. “I will set aside a place for you that he can run to,” the Lord said. Someone who plotted against his neighbor and attacked him on purpose to kill him was to be put to death, even if he had to be taken away from the Lord’s .
Anyone who attacked his father or his mother was to be put to death. So was anyone who kidnapped someone, whether he had already sold the person or was caught still holding him. And so was anyone who cursed his father or his mother.
Suppose two men quarreled, and one hit the other with a stone or his fist, so that the hurt man had to stay in bed, though he didn’t die. If he got up again and walked around with his staff, the one who hit him would not be punished. But he had to pay the hurt man for the time he lost, and see that he was cared for until he was well.
If a master hit his servant, man or woman, with a rod, and the servant died from it right there, the master was to be punished. But if the servant got up after a day or two, the master wasn’t to be punished, because the servant was his property.
If men fought and hurt a pregnant woman so that her baby was born early, but no harm followed, the one who hurt her had to pay a fine, as much as her husband demanded and the judges allowed. “But if any harm follows,” the Lord said, “then you must take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.”
If a master hit his servant, man or woman, in the eye and destroyed it, he had to set the servant free to make up for the eye. If he knocked out a servant’s tooth, he had to set the servant free to make up for the tooth.
Some laws were about animals that hurt people. If a bull killed a man or a woman with its horns, the bull was to be killed with stones, and no one was to eat its meat. Its owner was not to blame. But if the bull had gored people before, and its owner had been warned and still hadn’t kept it shut in, the bull was to be stoned and its owner put to death too. If the owner was told to pay a instead, he had to pay whatever was set, to buy back his life. The same rule was followed if the bull gored a son or a daughter. If the bull gored a servant, man or woman, the servant’s master was to be paid thirty of silver, about ten and a half ounces, and the bull was to be stoned.
Other laws said who paid for damage. Someone who left a pit open, or dug one and didn’t cover it, had to pay for any bull or donkey that fell in, and then the dead animal was his. If one man’s bull hurt another man’s bull so that it died, the two owners were to sell the live bull and share the money, and share the dead animal too. But if people knew the bull had gored before, and its owner hadn’t kept it shut in, he had to pay the other man a bull for a bull, and keep the dead one himself.
A man who stole an ox or a sheep and killed it or sold it had to pay back five oxen for one ox, or four sheep for one sheep. If a thief was caught breaking in and was hit and killed, the one who hit him was not to blame for his death. But if the sun had already risen, the one who killed him was to blame. A thief had to pay back what he took. If he had nothing, he was to be sold to pay for what he stole. If the stolen animal, whether an ox, a donkey or a sheep, was found still alive with him, he had to pay back double.
If someone let his animals loose and they grazed in another man’s field or vineyard, he had to pay it back from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard. If a fire broke out and spread into the thorn bushes, and burned up piles of cut grain, or grain still growing, or a whole field, the one who started the fire had to pay for what was burned.
Suppose a man left money or goods with his neighbor to keep, and they were stolen from the neighbor’s house. If the thief was found, he had to pay back double. If the thief wasn’t found, the neighbor had to come before God, to find out whether he had taken the goods himself. Two people might quarrel over an ox, a donkey, a sheep, clothing or anything lost, with one of them saying, “This is mine.” Then both were to bring their case before God. The one God found guilty had to pay the other double.
Someone might leave an animal with his neighbor to look after, and it might die, or be hurt, or be driven off while no one was looking. Then the neighbor was to swear by the Lord that he hadn’t taken it. The owner had to accept that, and the neighbor didn’t have to pay. If it was stolen, the one who stole it had to pay the owner back. If it was torn to pieces, the neighbor was to bring what was left of it as proof, and he didn’t have to pay for what was torn.
If someone borrowed something from his neighbor, and it was hurt or died while its owner wasn’t there, he had to pay for it. If the owner was there with it, the borrower didn’t have to pay. If he had rented it, the money he paid to rent it covered the loss.
Suppose a man talked a young woman into sleeping with him, and she wasn’t married or engaged to anyone. Then he had to pay the and marry her. If her father flatly refused to let her marry him, the man still had to pay as much money as the dowry for a young bride.
A was not to be allowed to live. Anyone who had sex with an animal was to be put to death. And anyone who offered a to any god except the Lord alone was to be completely destroyed.
“Don’t wrong a foreigner or treat him harshly,” the Lord said, “because you were foreigners yourselves in the land of . Don’t take advantage of a woman whose husband has died, or of a child who has no father. If you do that to them in any way, and they call out to me, I will be sure to hear them. My anger will burn hot, and I will kill you with the sword. Then it will be your own wives who are widows, and your own children who have no fathers.
“If one of my people among you is poor and you lend him money, don’t act like a moneylender toward him. Don’t charge him interest, making him pay back more than he borrowed. If you take your neighbor’s coat to hold until he pays you back, give it back to him before the sun goes down. It is his only covering, the only thing he has to wear. What would he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, because I am gracious.”
The people were not to insult God, or curse a ruler of their people. They were not to be slow to bring the Lord offerings from their harvest and from the juice that flowed from their presses. “Give me the firstborn of your sons,” the Lord said. They were to do the same with the firstborn of their cattle and sheep. Each one was to stay with its mother for its first seven days. On the eighth day they were to give it to the Lord.
“You are to be holy people for me,” the Lord said. “So don’t eat any meat that wild animals have torn apart out in the field. Throw it to the dogs.”
“Don’t spread a story that isn’t true,” the Lord said. “Don’t join with wicked people as a witness who wants to hurt someone. Don’t follow a crowd to do evil. When you speak in court, don’t go along with everyone else to twist justice. And don’t favor a poor man in his case.
“If you come across your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering off, you must take it back to him. If you see a donkey that has fallen down under its load, and it belongs to someone who hates you, don’t leave him alone with it. Be sure to help him with it.
“Don’t be unfair to the poor among you when they have a case in court. Have nothing to do with a false charge. Don’t kill the innocent or those who do right, because I will not say that the wicked are in the right. Don’t take a bribe, because a bribe blinds people who can see, and twists the words of those who are in the right.
“Don’t treat a foreigner harshly. You know what a foreigner goes through, because you were foreigners yourselves in the land of Egypt.
“Plant your land and gather in its crops for six years. But in the seventh year, leave it alone and let it rest, with nothing planted, so that the poor among your people can eat from it. The wild animals can eat whatever they leave. Treat your vineyard and your olive grove the same way.
“Do your work for six days, and on the seventh day rest. Then your ox and your donkey can rest too, and the son of your servant and the foreigner can be refreshed.
“Be careful to do everything I have told you. Don’t call on other gods by name. Don’t even say their names out loud.”
“Three times a year you are to hold a feast for me,” the Lord said. The first was the Feast of . For seven days they were to eat bread made without yeast, as he had commanded them, at the set time in the month of , because that was the month they came out of Egypt. And no one was to come before him with empty hands.
The second was the Feast of Harvest, for the first of the crops they had worked to grow in their fields. The third was the Feast of Ingathering, at the end of the year, when they gathered in the crops from their fields. Three times a year, every male was to come before the Lord.
“Don’t offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread that has yeast in it,” he said. “Don’t leave the fat from my feast until the next morning. Bring the very first of the first crops of your ground into the house of the Lord your God. And don’t boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
“Look,” the Lord said, “I am sending an ahead of you, to keep you safe on the way and to bring you into the place that I have prepared. Pay attention to him, and do what he tells you. Don’t make him angry. He won’t forgive you when you disobey, because my name is in him.
“But if you really listen to him and do everything I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies. I will stand against anyone who stands against you. My angel will go in front of you and bring you to the , , , , and . I will put an end to them.
“Don’t bow down to their gods or serve them, and don’t do the things they do. Tear them down completely, and knock down their stone pillars. Serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. In your land no woman will lose her baby before it is born, and none will be unable to have children. I will let you live a full life.
“I will send my terror out ahead of you, and throw all the peoples you meet into confusion. I will make every one of your enemies run away from you. I will send the hornet ahead of you, and it will drive the Hivites, the Canaanites and the Hittites away from you.
“I won’t drive them out in one year. If I did, the land would be left empty, and the wild animals would become too many for you. I will drive them out ahead of you a little at a time, until there are enough of you to make the land your own. I will make your land reach from the all the way to the sea of the , and from the wilderness to . I will hand the people who live in the land over to you, and you will drive them out in front of you.
“Don’t make any with them or with their gods. Don’t let them live in your land. If you do, they will lead you to sin against me. And if you serve their gods, that will surely be a trap for you.”
The Lord told Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and , and , and seventy of the of , and worship from a distance. Only Moses is to come near the Lord. The others are not to come near, and the people are not to come up with him.”
Moses came and told the people everything the Lord had said, and all his laws. “We will do every word the Lord has spoken,” all the people answered with one voice.
Moses wrote down all the Lord’s words. He got up early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve . He sent young men of Israel, and they offered and sacrificed cattle to the Lord as .
Moses put half of the blood in bowls and sprinkled the other half on the altar. He picked up the book of the covenant and read it out loud so the people could hear. They said, “We will do all that the Lord has said, and we will obey.”
Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people. “Look,” he said, “this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you about all these words.”
Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was what looked like a floor paved with sapphire, a bright blue stone, as clear as the sky.
God didn’t lay a hand on these leaders of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here. I will give you the stone with the law and the commands I have written, so that you can teach them.”
So Moses set out with , his helper, and went up onto God’s mountain. He told the elders, “Wait for us here until we come back to you. You have Aaron and with you. Anyone who has a quarrel to settle can go to them.”
Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The Lord’s settled on , and for six days the cloud covered it. When the seventh day came, the Lord called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud. The Israelites saw the Lord’s glory on the top of the mountain, and it looked like a blazing fire.
Moses went into the middle of the cloud and kept going up the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.