Unit 2(A): What Did Moses Write? Biblical Perspectives, Part 1 "Unnamed Author"

(1) At the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (2) Now the earth was barren and empty, with darkness over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God hovering over the surface of the water.

(3) Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (4) And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. So there was evening and there was morning, one day.

(1) The heavens and the earth were finished, along with all their array. (2) On the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing; he stopped doing on the seventh day all the work he had done. (3) And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, for on it he stopped doing all the work God created to do.

(4) These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day Adonai God made earth and heavens: (5) Now no shrub of the field was yet on earth, and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted--because Adonai God had not brought rain upon the earth, and there was no human being to work the ground--(6) but a stream would rise up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. (7) Then Adonai God formed the human being using soil from the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. And the human being became a living creature.

(1) Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. (2) The woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw that he was good, she hid him for three months. (3) When she could no longer hide him she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. (4) His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. (5) The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. (6) When she opened it, she saw the child--it was a young boy crying--and she took pity on him. "This must be one of the Hebrews’ children," she said.

(1) Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (2) There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he saw the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. (3) Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and see this great sight--why is the bush not burning up?" (4) When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses." And he said, "Here I am." (5) Then He said, "Come no closer. Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." (6) He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

(4) And Adonai said to Moses, "I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each daily portion—so that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow my teaching ["Torah"] or not. (5) And on the sixth day, when they start to prepare what they have brought in, it will turn out to be double the amount they gather every [other] day"....

(21) So they gathered it every morning--each person as much as they needed to eat--for when the sun grew hot [later in the day], it would melt. (22) And on the sixth day they gathered double the amount of food, two omers per person. And all the leaders of the community came and told Moses [about this]. (23) He said to them, "This is what Adonai meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest ["Shabbaton"], a holy Sabbath for Adonai. Bake what you want to bake, and cook what you want to cook; and whatever is left over, put aside to be kept until morning.”