Daily Mass Readings for July 24, 2025: Gospel — Mt 13,10-17

¹ In the third month after the Israelites went out from the land of Egypt, on the very day, they came to the desert of Sinai. ² After they journeyed from Rephidim, they came to the desert of Sinai, and they camped in the desert; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 9 :¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has said, “Release my people that they may serve me! ² For if you refuse to release them and continue holding them, ³ then the hand of the Lord will surely bring a very terrible plague on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. ⁴ But the Lord will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing will die of all that the Israelites have.”’” ⁵ The Lord set an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” ⁶ And the Lord did this on the next day; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the Israelites’ livestock not one died. ⁷ Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he did not release the people. ⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace, and have Moses throw it into the air while Pharaoh is watching. ⁹ It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt and will cause boils to break out and fester on both people and animals in all the land of Egypt.” 1 ⁰ So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, Moses threw it into the air, and it caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals. 1 ¹ The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. 1 ² But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses. 1 ³ The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has said: “Release my people so that they may serve me! 1 ⁴ For this time I will send all my plagues on your very self and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 1 ⁵ For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth. 1 ⁶ But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth. 1 ⁷ You are still exalting yourself against my people by not releasing them. 1 ⁸ I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 1 ⁹ So now, send instructions to gather your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person or animal caught in the field and not brought into the house—the hail will come down on them, and they will die!”’” 2 ⁰ Those of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the Lord’s message hurried to bring their servants and livestock into the houses, 2 ¹ but those who did not take the Lord’s message seriously left their servants and their cattle in the field. 2 ² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, and on everything that grows in the field in the land of Egypt.” 2 ³ When Moses extended his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire fell to the earth; so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt. 2 ⁴ Hail fell and fire mingled with the hail; the hail was so severe that there had not been any like it in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 2 ⁵ The hail struck everything in the open fields, both people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces. 2 ⁶ Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail. 2 ⁷ So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time! The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty. 2 ⁸ Pray to the Lord, for the mighty thunderings and hail are too much! I will release you and you will stay no longer.” 2 ⁹ Moses said to him, “When I leave the city I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. 3 ⁰ But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” 3 ¹ (Now the flax and the barley were struck by the hail, for the barley had ripened and the flax was in bud. 3 ² But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are later crops.) 3 ³ So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain stopped pouring on the earth. 3 ⁴ When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he sinned again: both he and his servants hardened their hearts. 3 ⁵ So Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he did not release the Israelites, as the Lord had predicted through Moses. 1 0 :¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display these signs of mine before him, ² and in order that in the hearing of your son and your grandson you may tell how I made fools of the Egyptians and about my signs that I displayed among them, so that you may know that I am the Lord.” ³ So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has said: ‘How long do you refuse to humble yourself before me? Release my people so that they may serve me! ⁴ But if you refuse to release my people, I am going to bring locusts into your territory tomorrow. ⁵ They will cover the surface of the earth, so that you will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped—what is left over for you—from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field. ⁶ They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been in the land until this day!’” Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh. ⁷ Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a menace to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know that Egypt is destroyed?” ⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Exactly who is going with you?” ⁹ Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold a pilgrim feast for the Lord.” 1 ⁰ He said to them, “The Lord will need to be with you if I release you and your dependents! Watch out! Trouble is right in front of you. 1 ¹ No! Go, you men only, and serve the Lord, for that is what you want.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence. 1 ² The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat everything that grows in the ground, everything that the hail has left.” 1 ³ So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all night. The morning came, and the east wind had brought up the locusts! 1 ⁴ The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory of Egypt. It was very severe; there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again. 1 ⁵ They covered the surface of all the ground so that the ground became dark with them, and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt. 1 ⁶ Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you! 1 ⁷ So now, forgive my sin this time only, and pray to the Lord your God that he would only take this death away from me.” 1 ⁸ Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 1 ⁹ and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt. 2 ⁰ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites. 2 ¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick it can be felt.” 2 ² So Moses extended his hand toward heaven, and there was absolute darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. 2 ³ No one could see another person, and no one could rise from his place for three days. But the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. 2 ⁴ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord—only your flocks and herds will be detained. Even your families may go with you.” 2 ⁵ But Moses said, “Will you also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may present them to the Lord our God? 2 ⁶ Our livestock must also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take these animals to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord.” 2 ⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to release them. 2 ⁸ Pharaoh said to him, “Go from me! Watch out for yourself! Do not appear before me again, for when you see my face you will die!” 2 ⁹ Moses said, “As you wish! I will not see your face again.” 1 1 :¹ The Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will release you from this place. When he releases you, he will drive you out completely from this place. ² Instruct the people that each man and each woman is to request from his or her neighbor items of silver and gold.” ³ (Now the Lord granted the people favor with the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, respected by Pharaoh’s servants and by the Egyptian people.) ⁴ Moses said, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, ⁵ and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. ⁶ There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. ⁷ But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark against either people or animals, so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.’ ⁸ All these your servants will come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you,’ and after that I will go out.” Then Moses went out from Pharaoh in great anger. ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” 1 ⁰ So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites from his land. 1 6 :¹ When they journeyed from Elim, the entire company of Israelites came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their exodus from the land of Egypt. ² The entire company of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!” ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. Will they walk in my law or not? ⁵ On the sixth day they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather every other day.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your murmurings against the Lord. As for us, what are we, that you should murmur against us?” ⁸ Moses said, “You will know this when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satisfy you, because the Lord has heard your murmurings that you are murmuring against him. As for us, what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.” ⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole community of the Israelites, ‘Come before the Lord, because he has heard your murmurings.’” 1 ⁰ As Aaron spoke to the whole community of the Israelites and they looked toward the wilderness, there the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, 1 ¹ and the Lord spoke to Moses, 1 ² “I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’” 1 ³ In the evening the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew was all around the camp. 1 ⁴ When the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the wilderness was a thin flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth. 1 ⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” because they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you for food. 1 ⁶ “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Each person is to gather from it what he can eat, an omer per person according to the number of your people; each one will pick it up for whoever lives in his tent.’” 1 ⁷ The Israelites did so, and they gathered—some more, some less. 1 ⁸ When they measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing; each one had gathered what he could eat. 1 ⁹ Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” 2 ⁰ But they did not listen to Moses; some kept part of it until morning, and it was full of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them. 2 ¹ So they gathered it each morning, each person according to what he could eat, and when the sun got hot, it would melt. 2 ² And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers per person; and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses. 2 ³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Whatever you want to bake, bake today; whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’” 2 ⁴ So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 2 ⁵ Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the area. 2 ⁶ Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” 2 ⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing. 2 ⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to obey my commandments and my instructions? 2 ⁹ See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, that is why he is giving you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 3 ⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day. 3 ¹ The house of Israel called its name “manna.” It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey. 3 ² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept for generations to come, so that they may see the food I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’” 3 ³ Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the Lord to be kept for generations to come.” 3 ⁴ Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the ark of the testimony for safekeeping. 3 ⁵ Now the Israelites ate manna 4 ⁰ years, until they came to a land that was inhabited; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 3 ⁶ (Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.) 1 7 :¹ The whole community of the Israelites traveled on their journey from the wilderness of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. Now there was no water for the people to drink. ² So the people contended with Moses, and they said, “Give us water to drink!” Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?” ³ But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world did you bring us up from Egypt—to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” ⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with this people?—a little more and they will stone me!” ⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. ⁶ I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” ⁸ Amalek came and attacked Israel in Rephidim. ⁹ So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 1 ⁰ So Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him, and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 1 ¹ Whenever Moses would raise his hands, then Israel prevailed, but whenever he would rest his hands, then Amalek prevailed. 1 ² When the hands of Moses became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and so his hands were steady until the sun went down. 1 ³ So Joshua destroyed Amalek and his army with the sword. 1 ⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua’s hearing; for I will surely wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 1 ⁵ Moses built an altar, and he called it “The Lord is my Banner,” 1 ⁶ for he said, “For a hand was lifted up to the throne of the Lord—that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” 1 8 :¹ Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard about all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ² Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah after he had sent her back, ³ and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (for Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land”) ⁴ and the other Eliezer (for Moses had said, “The God of my father has been my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). ⁵ Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and his wife, came to Moses in the wilderness where he was camping by the mountain of God. ⁶ He said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, along with your wife and her two sons with her.” ⁷ Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him; they each asked about the other’s welfare, and then they went into the tent. ⁸ Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for Israel’s sake, and all the hardship that had come on them along the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. ⁹ Jethro rejoiced because of all the good that the Lord had done for Israel, whom he had delivered from the hand of Egypt. 1 ⁰ Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord who has delivered you from the hand of Egypt, and from the hand of Pharaoh, who has delivered the people from the Egyptians’ control! 1 ¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, for in the thing in which they dealt proudly against them he has destroyed them.” 1 ² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat food with the father-in-law of Moses before God. 1 ³ On the next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening. 1 ⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting by yourself, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?” 1 ⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 1 ⁶ When they have a dispute, it comes to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” 1 ⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good! 1 ⁸ You will surely wear out, both you and these people who are with you, for this is too heavy a burden for you; you are not able to do it by yourself. 1 ⁹ Now listen to me, I will give you advice, and may God be with you. You be a representative for the people to God, and you bring their disputes to God; 2 ⁰ warn them of the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. 2 ¹ But you choose from the people capable men, God-fearing men, men of truth, those who hate bribes, and put them over the people as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 2 ² They will judge the people under normal circumstances, and every difficult case they will bring to you, but every small case they themselves will judge, so that you may make it easier for yourself, and they will bear the burden with you. 2 ³ If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will be able to go home satisfied.” 2 ⁴ Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he had said. 2 ⁵ Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 2 ⁶ They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves. 2 ⁷ Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and so Jethro went to his own land. 1 9 :³ Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, “Thus you will tell the house of Jacob, and declare to the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, ⁶ and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.” ⁷ So Moses came and summoned the elders of Israel. He set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him, ⁸ and all the people answered together, “All that the Lord has commanded we will do!” So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord. ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so that they will always believe in you.” And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. 1 ⁰ The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and make them wash their clothes 1 ¹ and be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 1 ² You must set boundaries for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves not to go up on the mountain nor touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death! 1 ³ No hand will touch him—but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; he must not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast they may go up on the mountain.” 1 ⁴ Then Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. 1 ⁵ He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day. Do not approach your wives for marital relations.” 1 ⁶ On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled. 1 ⁷ Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain. 1 ⁸ Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 1 ⁹ When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking and God was answering him with a voice. 2 ⁰ The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 2 ¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and solemnly warn the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish. 2 ² Let the priests also, who approach the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break through against them.” 2 ³ Moses said to the Lord, “The people are not able to come up to Mount Sinai, because you solemnly warned us, ‘Set boundaries for the mountain and set it apart.’” 2 ⁴ The Lord said to him, “Go, get down, and then come up, and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the Lord, lest he break through against them.” 2 ⁵ So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. 2 0 :¹ God spoke all these words: ² “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ³ “You shall have no other gods before me. ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, ⁶ and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. ⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain. ⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. ⁹ For six days you may labor and do all your work, 1 ⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 1 ¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. 1 ² “Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you. 1 ³ “You shall not murder. 1 ⁴ “You shall not commit adultery. 1 ⁵ “You shall not steal. 1 ⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 1 ⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 1 ⁸ All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance. 1 ⁹ They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” 2 ⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.” 2 ¹ The people kept their distance, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. 2 ² The Lord said to Moses, “Thus you will tell the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven. 2 ³ You must not make gods of silver alongside me, nor make gods of gold for yourselves. 2 4 “‘You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you. 2 ⁵ If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of stones shaped with tools, for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it. 2 ⁶ And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’