Exodus 16; Exodus 17; Exodus 18; Matthew 18:1-20

Exodus 16

1 And they set forward from Elim, and all the multitude of the children of Israel came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai: the fifteenth day of the second month, after they came out of the land of Egypt.

2 And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

3 And the children of Israel said to them: Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the fleshpots, and ate bread to the full: Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine?

4 And the Lord said to Moses: Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you; let the people go forth, and gather what is sufficient for every day: that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law, or not.

5 But the sixth day let them provide for to bring in: and let it be double to that they were wont to gather every day.

6 And Moses and Aaron said to the children of Israel In the evening you shall know that the Lord hath brought you forth out of the land of Egypt:

7 And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord: for he hath heard your murmuring against the Lord: but as for us, what are we, that you mutter against us?

8 And Moses said: In the evening the Lord will give you flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full: for he hath heard your murmurings, with which you have murmured against him, for what are we? your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord.

9 Moses also said to Aaron: Say to the whole congregation of the children of Israel: Come before the Lord; for he hath heard your murmuring.

10 And when Aaron spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, they looked towards the wilderness; and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.

11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

12 I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, say to them: In the evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.

13 So it came to pass in the evening, that quails coming up, covered the camp: and in the morning a dew lay round about the camp.

14 And when it had covered the face of the earth, it appeared in the wilderness small, and as it were beaten with a pestle, like unto the hoar frost on the ground.

15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: Manhu! which signifieth: What is this! for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them: This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.

16 This is the word that the Lord hath commanded: Let every one gather of it as much as is enough to eat; a gomor for every man, according to the number of your souls that dwell in a tent, so shall you take of it.

17 And the children of Israel did so: and they gathered, one more, another less.

18 And they measured by the measure of a gomor: neither had he more that had gathered more; nor did he find less that had provided less: but every one had gathered, according to what they were able to eat.

19 And Moses said to them: Let no man leave thereof till the morning.

20 And they hearkened not to him, but some of them left until the morning, and it began to be full of worms, and it putrefied, and Moses was angry with them.

21 Now every one of them gathered in the morning, as much as might suffice to eat: and after the sun grew hot, it melted.

22 But on the sixth day they gathered twice as much, that is, two gomors every man: and all the rulers of the multitude came, and told Moses.

23 And he said to them: This is what the Lord hath spoken: To morrow is the rest of the sabbath sanctified to the Lord. Whatsoever work is to be done, do it; and the meats that are to be dressed, dress them; and whatsoever shall remain, lay it up until the morning.

24 And they did so as Moses had commanded, and it did not putrefy, neither was there worm found in it.

25 And Moses said: Eat it to day, because it is the sabbath of the Lord: to day it shall not be found in the field.

26 Gather it six days; but on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord, therefore it shall not be found.

27 And the seventh day came; and some of the people going forth to gather, found none.

28 And the Lord said to Moses: How long will you refuse to keep my commandments, and my law?

29 See that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, and for this reason on the sixth day he giveth you a double provision: let each man stay at home, and let none go forth out of his place the seventh day.

30 And the people kept the sabbath on the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste thereof like to flour with honey.

32 And Moses said: This is the word which the Lord hath commanded: Fill a gomor of it, and let it be kept unto generations to come hereafter; that they may know the bread, wherewith I fed you in the wilderness when you were brought forth out of the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said to Aaron: Take a vessel, and put manna into it, as much as a gomor can hold; and lay it up before the Lord, to keep unto your generations,

34 As the Lord commanded Moses. And Aaron put it in the tabernacle to be kept.

35 And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land: with this meat were they fed, until they reached the borders of the land of Chanaan.

36 Now a gomor is the tenth part of an ephi.

Exodus 17

1 Then all the multitude of the children of Israel setting forward from the desert of Sin, by their mansions, according to the word of the Lord, encamped in Raphidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

2 And they chode with Moses, and said: Give us water, that we may drink. And Moses answered them: Why chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?

3 So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?

4 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me.

5 And the Lord said to Moses: Go before the people, and take with thee of the ancients of Israel: and take in thy hand the rod wherewith thou didst strike the river, and go.

6 Behold I will stand there before thee, upon the rock Horeb, and thou shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink. Moses did so before the ancients of Israel:

7 And he called the name of that place Temptation, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that they tempted the Lord, saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not?

8 And Amalec came, and fought against Israel in Raphidim.

9 And Moses said to Josue: Choose out men; and go out and fight against Amalec: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, having the rod of God in my hand.

10 Josue did as Moses had spoken, and he fought against Amalec; but Moses, and Aaron, and Hur, went up upon the top of the hill.

11 And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame; but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame.

12 And Moses’s hands were heavy: so they took a stone, and put under him, and he sat on it: and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands on both sides. And it came to pass, that his hands were not weary until sunset.

13 And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight, by the edge of the sword.

14 And the Lord said to Moses: Write this for a memorial in a book, and deliver it to the ears of Josue; for I will destroy the memory of Amalec from under heaven.

15 And Moses built an altar; and called the name thereof, The Lord, my exaltation, saying:

16 Because the hand of the throne of the Lord, and the war of the Lord shall be against Amalec, from generation to generation.

Exodus 18

1 And when Jethro the priest of Madian, the kinsman of Moses, had heard all the things that God had done to Moses, and to Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought forth Israel out of Egypt:

2 He took Sephora, the wife of Moses, whom he had sent back:

3 And her two sons, of whom one was called Gersam: his father saying, I have been a stranger in a foreign country.

4 And the other Eliezer: For the God of my father, said he, is my helper, and hath delivered me from the sword of Pharao.

5 And Jethro, the kinsman of Moses, came with his sons, and his wife to Moses into the desert, where he was camped by the mountain of God.

6 And he sent word to Moses, saying: I Jethro, thy kinsman, come to thee, and thy wife, and thy two sons with her.

7 And he went out to meet his kinsman, and worshipped and kissed him: and they saluted one another with words of peace. And when he was come into the tent,

8 Moses told his kinsman all that the Lord had done to Pharao, and the Egyptians in favour of Israel: and all the labour which had befallen them in the journey, and that the Lord had delivered them.

9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good things that the Lord had done to Israel, because he had delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians.

10 And he said: Blessed is the Lord, who hath delivered his people out of the hand of Egypt.

11 Now I know, that the Lord is great above all gods; because they dealt proudly against them.

12 So Jethro, the kinsman of Moses, offered holocausts and sacrifices to God: and Aaron and all the ancients of Israel came, to eat bread with him before God.

13 And the next day Moses sat to judge the people, who stood by Moses from morning until night.

14 And when his kinsman had seen all things that he did among the people, he said: What is it that thou dost among the people? Why sittest thou alone, and all the people wait from morning till night?

15 And Moses answered him: The people come to me to seek the judgment of God?

16 And when any controversy falleth out among them, they come to me to judge between them, and to shew the precepts of God, and his laws.

17 But he said: The thing thou dost is not good.

18 Thou art spent with foolish labour, both thou, and this people that is with thee; the business is above thy strength, thou alone canst not bear it.

19 But hear my words and counsels, and God shall be with thee. Be thou to the people in those things that pertain to God, to bring their words to him:

20 And to shew the people the ceremonies, and the manner of worshipping; and the way wherein they ought to walk, and the work that they ought to do.

21 And provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, in whom there is truth, and that hate avarice, and appoint of them rulers of thousands, and of hundreds, and of fifties, and of tens,

22 Who may judge the people at all times: and when any great matter soever shall fall out, let them refer it to thee, and let them judge the lesser matters only: that so it may be lighter for thee, the burden being shared out unto others.

23 If thou dost this, thou shalt fulfil the commandment of God, and shalt be able to bear his precepts: and all this people shall return to their places with peace.

24 And when Moses heard this, he did all things that he had suggested unto him.

25 And choosing able men out of all Israel, he appointed them rulers of the people, rulers over thousands, and over hundreds, and over fifties, and over tens.

26 And they judged the people at all times: and whatsoever was of greater difficulty they referred to him, and they judged the easier cases only.

27 And he let his kinsman depart: and he returned and went into his own country.

Matthew 18:1-20

1 At that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who, thinkest thou, is the greater in the kingdom of heaven?

2 And Jesus, calling unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them.

3 And said: amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven.

5 And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.

6 But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.

7 Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh.

8 And if thy hand, or thy foot, scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire.

9 And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

10 See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

12 What think you? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and goeth to seek that which is gone astray?

13 And if it so be that he find it: Amen I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that, than for the ninety-nine that went not astray.

14 Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

15 But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother.

16 And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand.

17 And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.

18 Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.

19 Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven.

20 For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.