Theophany at Sinai

19 In the third month after Bnei-Yisrael had gone out of the land of Egypt, that same day they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. ² They travelled from Rephidim, came into to the wilderness of Sinai, and set up camp in the wilderness. Israel camped there, right in front of the mountain.

³ Moses went up to God, and Adonai called to him from the mountain saying, “Say this to the house of Jacob, and tell Bnei-Yisrael, ⁴ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself. ⁵ Now then, if you listen closely to My voice, and keep My covenant, then you will be My own treasure from among all people, for all the earth is Mine. ⁶ So as for you, you will be to Me a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you are to speak to Bnei-Yisrael.”

⁷ So Moses went, called for the elders of the people, and put before them all these words that Adonai had commanded him. ⁸ All the people answered together and said, “Everything that Adonai has spoken, we will do.” Then Moses reported the words of the people to Adonai.

⁹ Adonai said to Moses, “I am about to come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to Adonai.

¹⁰ Adonai said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothing. ¹¹ Be ready for the third day. For on the third day Adonai will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹² You are to set boundaries for the people all around, saying, ‘Be very careful not to go up onto the mountain, or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death. ¹³ Not a hand is to touch it, but he will surely be stoned or shot through. Whether it is an animal or a man, it will not live.’ When the shofar sounds, they may come up to the mountain.”

¹⁴ Then Moses went down from the mountain to the people, consecrated them, and then, they washed their clothing. ¹⁵ He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day. Do not draw near your wives.”

¹⁶ In the morning of the third day, there was thundering^[a] and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and the blast of an exceedingly loud shofar. All the people in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the lowest part of the mountain. ¹⁸ Now the entire Mount Sinai was in smoke, because Adonai had descended upon it in fire. The smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace. The whole mountain quaked greatly. ¹⁹ When the sound of the shofar grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with a thunderous sound.

²⁰ Then Adonai came down onto Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. Adonai called Moses to the top of the mountain, so Moses went up. ²¹ Then Adonai said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to see Adonai, and many of them die. ²² Even the kohanim who come near to Adonai must consecrate themselves, so that Adonai does not break out against them.”

²³ Moses said to Adonai, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You are the One who warned us, saying, ‘Set boundaries around the mountain, and consecrate it.’”

²⁴ Then Adonai said to him, “Go down. You are to come back up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the kohanim and the people break through to come up to Adonai, or He will break out against them.” ²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and told them.

The Ten Words

20 Then God spoke all these words saying,

² “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

³ “You shall have no other gods before Me. ⁴ Do not make for yourself a graven image^[b], or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the water under the earth. ⁵ Do not bow down to them, do not let anyone make you serve them. For I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing lovingkindness to the thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My mitzvot.

⁷ “You must not take the Name of Adonai your God in vain, for Adonai will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in vain.

⁸ “Remember Yom Shabbat, to keep it holy. ⁹ You are to work six days, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Shabbat to Adonai your God. In it you shall not do any work—not you, nor your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your cattle, nor the outsider that is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days Adonai made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Thus Adonai blessed Yom Shabbat, and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land which Adonai your God is giving you.

¹³ “Do not murder.

¹⁴ “Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “Do not steal.

¹⁶ “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “Do not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

¹⁸ All the people witnessed the thundering and the lightning, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off. ¹⁹ So they said to Moses, “You, speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

²⁰ So Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that His fear may be in you, so that you do not sin.” ²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

²² Then Adonai said to Moses, “Say this to Bnei-Yisrael: You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. ²³ Do not make gods of silver alongside Me, and do not make gods of gold for yourselves.

Shavuot: Feast of Weeks

²⁶ “On the Day of Firstfruits, when you offer to Adonai a new grain offering during the Feast of Weeks, you are to have a sacred assembly. You are to do no laborious work. ²⁷ You are to offer as a pleasing aroma a burnt offering to Adonai, two young bulls from the herd, one ram and seven male lambs a year old. ²⁸ With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, with the ram two tenths, ²⁹ and with each lamb, one tenth, ³⁰ plus one male goat to make atonement for you. ³¹ In addition, you are to prepare the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering. They are to be without defect.

1 In the thirtieth year on the fifth day of the fourth month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens opened, and I saw visions of God. ² In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, ³ the word of Adonai came to Ezekiel the kohen, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. (The hand of Adonai was upon him there.)

Vision of Supernatural Beings

⁴ I looked, and behold, a storm wind came from the north, a great cloud with flashing fire and brightness all around it, and something like a glowing alloy^[a] out of the fire. ⁵ From within it came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: they had a likeness of a human, ⁶ but each one had four faces and each one of them had four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight and the soles of their feet were like the hoof of a calf. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. ⁸ They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. The four of them had faces and wings: ⁹ their wings touched one another; they did not turn when they moved; each could move in the direction of any of its faces. ¹⁰ As for the form of their faces, each had a human face, the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side and the four had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings touching the wing of another, while another two were covering their bodies. ¹² Now each being could move in the direction of any of its faces; wherever the Ruach would go, they went, without turning as they went.

¹³ As for the form of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, resembling torches moving between the living creatures. There was brightness to the fire, and lightning went forth from the fire. ¹⁴ The living creatures were running back and forth like flashes of lightning. ¹⁵ As I looked at the living creatures, behold, one wheel was on the ground next to each of the four-faced creatures. ¹⁶ The appearance and structure of the wheels was like the gleaming of beryl. The four had the same likeness, their appearance and their structure seemed to be a wheel within a wheel.

¹⁷ When they went, they went in any of their four directions without pivoting as they went. ¹⁸ Their rims were high and awesome—all four rims were full of eyes all around. ¹⁹ When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. When the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. ²⁰ Wherever the Ruach wanted to go, they went, in the direction the Ruach wanted to go. The wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ Whenever the creatures went, the wheels went. When the creatures stood still, these wheels stood still. When the creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² Now over the heads of the living creatures there was something like an expanse, shining like the color of ice, stretched forth over their heads. ²³ Under the expanse, their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other. Each had another pair covering its body.

²⁴ When they moved, I could hear the sound of their wings like the sound of rushing waters, like the voice of Shaddai, a noise of tumult like the noise of an army. Whenever they stood still, they let down their wings. ²⁵ There came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. Whenever they stood still, they let down their wings.

²⁶ Above the expanse over their heads was something like a throne, resembling a sapphire stone. Above the shape of the throne was a figure of human appearance. ²⁷ From what appeared as his waist upward, I saw a glowing metal, looking like a fire encased in a frame. From what was like his waist down, I saw the appearance of fire radiating around him. ²⁸ Like the appearance of the rainbow^[b] in the cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the radiance. It was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Adonai. I saw it, fell upon my face, and heard the voice of the One who was speaking.

The Ruach Fills the Disciples

2 When the day of Shavuot^[a] had come, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ And tongues like fire spreading out appeared to them and settled on each one of them. ⁴ They were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak in other tongues as the Ruach enabled them to speak out.

⁵ Now Jewish people were staying in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when this sound came, the crowd gathered. They were bewildered, because each was hearing them speaking in his own language. ⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “All these who are speaking—aren’t they Galileans? ⁸ How is it that we each hear our own birth language? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those living in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ^{[b] 10} Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jewish people and proselytes), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring in our own tongues the mighty deeds of God!” ¹² And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other, “What does this mean?”

¹³ Others, poking fun, were saying, “They are full of sweet new wine!”

Peter Speaks to the Shavuot Crowd

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: “Fellow Judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. ¹⁵ These men are not drunk, as you suppose—for it’s only the third hour of the day! ^{[c] 16} But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel: