Exodus 24:3–8
The people answer, “All the words that YHWH has spoken we will do”
Study it word by word3Moses came and told the people all the words of YHWH and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that YHWH has spoken we will do.”
4Moses wrote all the words of YHWH. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve standing stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.
5He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as sacrifices of peace to YHWH.
6Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar.
7Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will listen.”
8Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said, “Look, the blood of the covenant that YHWH has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
In its context
1To Moses he said, “Come up to YHWH, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and bow down from a distance.
2Moses alone shall come near to YHWH, but they shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
…
9Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,
10and they saw the Elohim of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a work of pavement of sapphire, and like the very heavens for clearness.
Its words in the original
- יָּבֹאyavo· come, go in, bring
Come, arrive, go in, enter. In the causative form, "bring" or "carry in". "Go in to" a woman is to have marital relations with her.
- מֹשֶׁהmoshe· Moses
Moses, the man God called to bring Israel out of Egypt and through whom he gave the Law. His name sounds like "draw out" (Exodus 2:10).
- יְסַפֵּרyesaper· count, tell
Count (numbers) and also tell (relate, recount). From here comes the word for "scribe".
- עָםam· people
People: a human group joined by kinship, history and destiny. "My people", said by God, is Israel. Also the people as a crowd, or troops.
- דִּבְרֵיdivre· word, matter, thing
Word; what is said. Also "matter" or "thing": what is spoken about, an affair, an event.
- יְהוָהyehva· YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
- מִּשְׁפָּטִיםmishpatim· justice, judgment
What is right and the decision that establishes it: the judgment of a judge, someone's right, a rule or ordinance, a custom. "Do righteousness and justice" is to treat each one as is due.
- יַּעַןyaan· answer
Answer, reply; also speak up, testify, or sing in response.
- קוֹלkol· voice, sound
Voice or sound: what is heard, from a person, an animal or a thing (thunder, steps).
- אֶחָדechad· one
One; only, the same. Also "first" in a series.
- יֹּאמְרוּyomru· say
Say, speak. The most common verb for bringing in what someone says; sometimes "think" (say to oneself) or "command".
- דִּבֶּרdiber· speak
Speak, talk, say; also promise or command.
- נַעֲשֶׂהnaase· do, make
Do, make, in the widest sense: build, produce, carry out, keep (a command), prepare.
- יִּכְתֹּבyichtov· write
Write; also write down, record.
- יַּשְׁכֵּםyashkem· rise early
Rise early, get up early in the morning.
- בֹּקֶרboker· morning
Morning, dawn.
- יִּבֶןyiven· build
Build, construct; also rebuild. Figuratively, build up a family (give it children).
- מִזְבֵּחַmizbeach· altar
Altar: a structure of stone or earth on which sacrifices are offered to God.
- הָרhar· mountain, hill country
Mountain, hill; hill country.
- שְׁתֵּיםshetem· two
Two.
- עֶשְׂרֵהesre· -teen (ten)
Ten, in the numbers from 11 to 19 (like the "-teen" in "thirteen"); also "-teenth".
- מַצֵּבָהmatseva· standing stone
Standing stone: a stone set upright as a memorial of something, of a meeting with God or of a covenant. Later laws forbid the standing stones of Canaanite worship, which were objects of worship.
- שִׁבְטֵיshivte· rod, scepter, tribe
Rod, staff; a king's scepter; also tribe.
- יִשְׂרָאֵלyisrael· Israel
Israel, the new name Jacob received from God, explained as "you have striven with God" (Genesis 32:28); then the name of the people that came from him and, after the division, of the northern kingdom.
- יִּשְׁלַחyishlach· send, stretch out
Send; stretch out (the hand); let go, send away, set free.
- נַעֲרֵיnaare· young man, servant
Boy, young man; also a servant or attendant.
- בְּנֵיbene· son
Son. In the plural it can include sons and daughters, and also grandsons and descendants. "Son of..." also says what group someone belongs to ("sons of Israel" = Israelites).
- יַּעֲלוּyaalu· go up, offer up
Go up, ascend, climb. It is also used for "offering" a sacrifice (making it go up), and for coming up from Egypt.
- עֹלֹתolot· burnt offering
Burnt offering: a sacrifice in which the animal is burned whole on the altar, as a total gift to God. The Hebrew word means "what goes up" (in smoke).
- יִּזְבְּחוּyizbchu· sacrifice
Sacrifice: slaughter an animal to offer it to God.
- זְבָחִיםzevachim· sacrifice
Sacrifice: an animal offered to God; part of its meat was eaten in a shared meal.
- שְׁלָמִיםshelamim· peace offerings
Peace offering: a sacrifice of which one part was burned for God and the rest was eaten by the one who offered it, as a sign of peace and fellowship with him (Leviticus 3).
- פָּרִיםparim· bull
Young bull, bullock.
- יִּקַּחyikach· take
Take: seize, take along, receive. Also "take a wife" (marry).
- חֲצִיchatsi· half
Half; also the middle.
- דָּםdam· blood
Blood. In the Bible blood stands for life; "shed blood" is to kill; "bloodguilt" is guilt for killing.
- יָּשֶׂםyasem· put, set
Put, place, set; appoint, establish; make something into something.
- אַגָּנֹתaganot· bowl
Bowl, deep basin.
- זָרַקzarak· sprinkle, dash
Sprinkle, dash, throw (blood against the altar, water, dust); scatter.
- סֵפֶרsefer· writing, book
Writing, document, book (in ancient times, a scroll).
- בְּרִיתberit· covenant
Covenant: a solemn commitment between two parties, with promises and obligations. When God makes it, he is the one who offers it and guarantees it.
- יִּקְרָאyikra· call, proclaim
Call: speak out to someone, summon, invite, give a name, proclaim; also read aloud. "Call on the name of YHWH" is to pray to him and worship him.
- אָזְנֵיazne· ear
Ear. "Speak in someone's ears" is to tell him something directly.
- נִשְׁמָעnishma· hear, listen, obey
Hear, listen. In the Bible listening truly includes paying heed; so it often means "obey". In the causative form, make heard, proclaim.
- כָּרַתkarat· cut, cut off
Cut, cut down. Said of a living being, cut off, destroy. "Cut a covenant" is the Hebrew expression for making a covenant, because it was sealed by cutting animals in two (Genesis 15).