Today’s Reading :  Exodus 19 – 20  and Mark 7  (KJV)

Exodus 19

Exo 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

Exo 19:2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

Exo 19:8  And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

Exo 19:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

Exo 19:10  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes,

Exo 19:11  And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

Exo 19:12  And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:

Exo 19:13  There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

Exo 19:14  And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.

Exo 19:15  And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

Exo 19:16  And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

Exo 19:17  And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

Exo 19:18  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Exo 19:19  And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

Exo 19:20  And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

Exo 19:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

Exo 19:22  And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

Exo 19:23  And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

Exo 19:24  And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

Exo 19:25  So Moses went down unto the people, and spoke unto them.

Exodus 20

Exo 20:1  And God spoke all these words, saying,

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exo 20:6  And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exo 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Exo 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not kill.

Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exo 20:15  Thou shalt not steal.

Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Exo 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Exo 20:20  And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

Exo 20:21  And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

Exo 20:22  And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

Exo 20:23  Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.

Exo 20:24  An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

Exo 20:25  And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

Exo 20:26  Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

Mark 7

Mar 7:1  Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.

Mar 7:2  And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.

Mar 7:3  For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.

Mar 7:4  And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables.

Mar 7:5  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?

Mar 7:6  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Mar 7:7  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Mar 7:8  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

Mar 7:9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Mar 7:10  For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:

Mar 7:11  But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.

Mar 7:12  And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother;

Mar 7:13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

Mar 7:14  And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

Mar 7:15  There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

Mar 7:16  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Mar 7:17  And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

Mar 7:18  And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

Mar 7:19  Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

Mar 7:20  And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

Mar 7:21  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Mar 7:22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

Mar 7:23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Mar 7:24  And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and would have no man know it, but he could not be hid.

Mar 7:25  For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:

Mar 7:26  The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

Mar 7:27  But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

Mar 7:28  And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.

Mar 7:29  And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

Mar 7:30  And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

Mar 7:31  And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.

Mar 7:32  And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.

Mar 7:33  And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;

Mar 7:34  And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.

Mar 7:35  And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

Mar 7:36  And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;

Mar 7:37  And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.