390 passages · Kingdom
Eve bears Cain and Abel. Both bring offerings, and God favors Abel's but not Cain's. God warns the angry Cain that sin is crouching at his door but that he can master it.
Adam and Eve have another son, Seth, in place of Abel. Seth has a son Enosh, and at that time people begin to call on the name of the Lord.
Noah builds an altar and offers burnt offerings. The Lord is pleased and resolves never again to curse the ground or destroy all life, as long as the seasons of the earth continue.
Abram, seventy-five, leaves with Sarai and Lot. At Shechem the Lord promises the land to his offspring, and Abram builds altars there and near Bethel.
Abram returns from Egypt very wealthy and worships at his old altar. He and Lot both have so many possessions that the land cannot support them, and their herdsmen quarrel.
Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, brings bread and wine and blesses Abram. Abram gives him a tenth of everything.
Abimelech asks Abraham to swear fair dealing. After settling a dispute over a well, they make a covenant with seven ewe lambs as witness, and the place is named Beersheba.
At Beersheba God reassures Isaac, who builds an altar. Abimelech comes seeking a peace agreement, having seen that God is with Isaac, and they swear an oath and share a feast.
Jacob wakes in awe, sets up the stone as a pillar, and names the place Bethel. He vows that if God stays with him and brings him home safely, the Lord will be his God and he will give a tenth.
God tells Jacob to go to Bethel and build an altar. Jacob has his household remove their foreign gods, and at Bethel he builds an altar; Rebekah's nurse Deborah dies there.
Aaron meets Moses at the mountain, and Moses tells him everything. They gather Israel's elders, perform the signs, and the people believe and bow in worship.
In song, Israel praises the LORD as strength, salvation, and warrior. They celebrate how he threw Pharaoh's horse and rider into the sea and how the enemy's boast ended.
The narrator summarizes the crossing again. Miriam the prophetess takes up a tambourine and leads the women in dancing and singing the refrain of the song.
Moses' father-in-law Jethro brings Moses' wife and sons to him. Moses tells him all the LORD has done, and Jethro rejoices, says the LORD is greater than all gods, and offers sacrifices.
God reminds Israel he has spoken from heaven, and forbids gods of silver or gold. He tells them to build altars of earth or uncut stone and to avoid steps up to the altar.
God describes a gold-covered table with rings and poles, along with gold plates and bowls. The Bread of the Presence is to be kept on it before God at all times.
God details a lampstand of hammered gold with six branches, almond-blossom cups and seven lamps, made from one talent of gold. He reminds Moses to follow the pattern shown on the mountain.
God commands two lambs to be offered daily, morning and twilight, with flour, oil and wine. He promises to meet the people there, consecrate the place by his glory and dwell among them as their God who brought them out of Egypt.
God describes a small gold-covered altar to be placed before the veil, where Aaron will burn incense every morning and twilight. No unauthorized offerings may be made on it, and once a year atonement is made on its horns.
God gives a formula for fragrant incense of four spices with salt, to be placed before the Testimony. It is holy and must not be copied for personal enjoyment.
Moses regularly pitches a tent of meeting outside the camp. When he enters, the pillar of cloud descends and the LORD speaks with him face to face like a friend, while the people watch and worship.
The LORD calls to Moses from the Tent of Meeting and tells him to instruct the Israelites about bringing animal offerings from the herd or flock.
An unblemished bull is brought to the entrance, the worshiper lays a hand on it, and it is slaughtered. The priests splash the blood on the altar and burn the whole animal as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
If the worshiper brings a sheep or goat instead, it is also an unblemished male, killed on the north side of the altar and burned whole in much the same way.
A poorer worshiper may bring a turtledove or young pigeon. The priest prepares it at the altar and burns it, and the text again calls it a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
A grain offering is made of fine flour with oil and frankincense. The priest burns a handful as a memorial portion, and the rest goes to Aaron and his sons as a most holy share.
Grain offerings may be baked in an oven, cooked on a griddle, or made in a pan, always unleavened and with oil. The priest burns the memorial portion and keeps the remainder.
Grain offerings must not contain leaven or honey when burned on the altar, though such items may be brought as firstfruits. Every grain offering is to be seasoned with the salt of the covenant.
An offering of the first new grain is to be crushed, roasted heads of grain with oil and frankincense. The priest burns a memorial portion of it to the LORD.
A male or female animal from the herd, without blemish, is presented as a peace offering. The worshiper lays a hand on it, and the priests burn its fat, kidneys, and liver lobe on the altar.