house of instruction without the camp. And it came to pass that when Mosheh went forth to the tabernacle, all the people rose up, and stood, every man at the door of his tent, and looked after Mosheh until he had entered into the tabernacle. And it was when Mosheh had entered the tabernacle, the column of the Cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and (He) spake with Mosheh. And all the people saw the column of the Cloud standing at the door of the tabernacle, and all the people arose and worshipped, every man at the door of his tent. And the Lord spake with Mosheh word with word, as a man speaketh with his companion. And he returned to the camp; but his minister, Jehoshua bar Nun, a young man, did not remove from the tabernacle.

3

And Mosheh said before the Lord, See, Thou hast said to me, Take this people up; but Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me; yet Thou hast said, I have ordained thee by name, and thou hast found mercy before Me. And if now I have found mercy before Thee, show me, I pray, Thy good way, that I may know Thy loving-kindness, and may find mercy before Thee, and make it manifest before Thee that this people is Thy people. And He said, My Shekinah shall go, and I will give thee rest. And he said before Him, If Thy Shekinah goeth not among us, let us not ascend from hence. And in what shall it be known that I and Thy people have found mercy before Thee, if Thy Shekinah go not up with us, to make for us the distinction, and to distinguish me and Thy people from every people that is upon the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Mosheh, This thing that thou hast spoken will I do, because thou hast found mercy before Or, "the way of Thy Goodness." Sam. Vers., "to make us free."

Me, and I have ordained thee by name.

And he said,

Show me, I pray, Thy Glory! And He said, I will make all My Goodness pass before thy face,5 and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And He said, Thou canst not see the Face of My Shekinah; for no man can see Me and abide alive. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place prepared before Me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock, and it shall be, when My Glory passeth, I will put thee in a cavern of the rock, and My Word shall overshadow thee until I have passed; and I will take away the word (dibberath) of My Glory, and thou shalt see that which is after Me,6 but My Aspect7 shall not be seen.

XXXIV. And the Lord said to Mosheh, Hew thee two tablets of stone as the first ones, and I will write upon the tablets the words that were upon the former tablets which thou hast broken. And be ready in the morning, and go up at morn to Mount Sinai, and stand there before Me on the summit of the mountain. Let no man ascend with thee; let no man be seen upon all the mountain, nor sheep nor oxen be grazing upon the mountain. And hew two tablets of stone like the former ones.

And Mosheh arose in the morning, and ascended Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. And the Lord was revealed in the Cloud, and He stood with him there, and He proclaimed the Name of the Lord. And the Lord made His Shekinah pass before his face; and he

5 Sam. Vers., "My loving-kindness shall go before, and will lead thee."

proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, Merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and making goodness and truth to abound; Keeping goodness for thousands of generations; Forgiving iniquity and rebellion and guilt; Pardoning them who convert unto His law, but acquitting not them who convert not; Visiting the guilt of fathers upon the children and upon the children's children of the rebellious, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. And Mosheh made haste, and bowed upon the ground and worshipped.

And he said, If now I have found mercy before Thee, O Lord, let, I pray, the Shekinah of the Lord go among us; for it is a hard-necked people; but forgive Thou our guilt and our sin, and take possession of us. And He said, Behold, I make a covenant before all thy people that I will do wonders which were never created upon all the earth, nor among any of the peoples; and all peoples among whom thou art shall see the work of the Lord; for terrible shall that be which I will do with thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this day. Behold, I will drive out from before thee the Amoraee, and Kenaanaee, and Hittaee, and Pherizaee, and Hivaee, and Jebusaee. Beware lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land upon which thou shalt enter, lest it become a stumbling-block in the midst of thee: but their altars thou shalt destroy, and their statues break, and their groves cut down;9 for thou shalt not worship the idols of the peoples; for the Lord, Zealous is His Name, a zealous God is He. Lest thou strike a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and go erring after their idols, and to their idols offer sacrifices, and they invite thee, and thou eat of their sacrifices, and thou take of their daughters for thy sons, and they make thy daughters go erring after their idols,

9 Sam. Vers., "root up."

and thy sons to go erring after their idols. Molten gods thou shalt not make to thee.

The feast of the unleavened thou shalt keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened (bread) as I have commanded thee, in the time of the month of Abiva; for in the month of Abiva thou didst come out of Mizraim. All that openeth the womb is Mine; all males of cattle thou shalt sanctify, the first-born of oxen and of sheep. But the firstling of an ass thou mayest redeem with a lamb; but if thou redeem him not, thou shalt cut him off. All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem.

And let none appear before Me empty. Six days thou shalt labour, and on the seventh day rest; in sowing (time) and in reaping thou shalt rest. And the feast of Weeks thou shalt make to thee, of the firsts of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering in the cycle of the year. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Master of the World, the Lord God of Israel. For I will drive out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders, and no man shall covet thy land when thou goest up to appear before the Lord thy God three times in the year. Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of My Pascha with leaven, nor shall the fat of the sacrifices of the Paschal feast be left without the altar till the morning. The chief of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring to the sanctuary of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not eat flesh with milk. And the Lord said to Mosheh, Write for thee these words; for upon the expression of these words I make covenant with thee and with Israel.

And he was there before the Lord forty days and forty nights; bread he ate not, nor water did he drink; and he wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words. And it was when Mosheh descended from the mountain of Sinai with the two

tablets of the testimony in the hand of Mosheh, in his descending from the mount, that Mosheh knew not how great was the splendour of the glory of his countenance through His speaking with him. And Aharon and all the sons of Israel saw Mosheh, and, behold, great was the splendour of the glory of his countenance, and they were afraid to approach him. But Mosheh called to them, and Aharon and all the chiefs of the congregation returned to him, and Mosheh conversed with them. And afterward all the sons of Israel drew near, and he taught them all that the Lord had said to him on Mount Sinai. And when Mosheh had completed to speak with them, he put a veil upon his face. But when Mosheh went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out. And he went forth and spake with the sons of Israel of that which was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Mosheh, that the splendour of the glory of Mosheh's face was great; and Mosheh put the veil again upon his face until he went in to speak with Him.

SECTION XXII.

VAYAKEHEL.

XXXV. And Mosheh assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and said to them, These are the things which the Lord hath commanded you to do. Six days thou shalt do work, but the seventh day (is) a