¹ When ²  they journeyed from Elim, the entire company ³  of Israelites came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their exodus ⁴  from the land of Egypt.

The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died ¹  by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by ²  the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, ³  for you have brought us out into this desert to kill ⁴  this whole assembly with hunger!”

“I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘During the evening ¹  you will eat meat, ²  and in the morning you will be satisfied ³  with bread, so that you may know ⁴  that I am the Lord your God.’” ⁵ 

When ¹  the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ²  “What is it?” because they did not know what it was. ³  Moses said to them, “It is the bread ⁴  that the Lord has given you for food. ⁵ 

But the people were very thirsty ¹  there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world ²  did you bring us up out of Egypt – to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” ³ 

He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, ¹  saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

I will meet with you there, ¹  and ²  from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites.

In the tent of meeting ¹  outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening ²  to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come. ³ 

The stones are to be for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to the number of ¹  their names. Each name according to the twelve tribes is to be like ²  the engravings of a seal.

“You are to put the Urim and the Thummim ¹  into the breastpiece of decision; and they are to be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord. Aaron is to bear the decisions ²  of the Israelites over his heart before the Lord continually.

It will be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron will bear the iniquity of the holy things, ¹  which the Israelites are to sanctify by all their holy gifts; ²  it will always be on his forehead, for their acceptance ³  before the Lord.

“When you take a census ¹  of the Israelites according to their number, ²  then each man is to pay a ransom ³  for his life to the Lord when you number them, ⁴  so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.

You are to receive the atonement money ¹  from the Israelites and give it for the service ²  of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial ³  for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement ⁴  for your lives.”

“Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, ¹  for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ² 

It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days ¹  the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” ² 

He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it ¹  to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. ² 

For ¹  the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, ²  I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, ³  that I may know ⁴  what I should do to you.’” ⁵ 

keeping loyal love for thousands, ¹  forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression ²  of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

But when Moses went in ¹  before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. ²  Then he would come out and tell the Israelites what he had been commanded. ³ 

When the Israelites would see ¹  the face of Moses, that ²  the skin of Moses’ face shone, Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with the Lord. ³