A line in the sand XV

Tolerance vs. Pride? Spat on by parade-goers, Catholic priest has this message

Editor's note: The following column originally appeared on ToddStarnes.com.

There were g-strings galore at Gay Pride celebrations across the fruited plain as scantily-clad celebrants took to the streets to herald the Supreme Court’s decision to redefine marriage.Supporters of LGBTQI and A marriages waved rainbow-colored flags from San Francisco to New York City.

Unfortunately – the festivities in the Big Apple turned ugly.

Instead of responding with anger Father Jonathan responded with grace.

Father Jonathan Morris – was walking near Broadway — wearing his cleric’s collar – when he stumbled up the Gay Pride Parade.

Father Jonathan, who is also a Fox News contributor, tweeted what happened:

“Two men walked by and spat on me,” he wrote. 

Related Image

They spit on a priest!

What kind of a person hurls their sputum at a priest? What kind of a human being does that?

But instead of responding with anger Father Jonathan responded with grace.

“The two men who spat on me are probably very good man (sic) caught up in excitement and past resentment,” he wrote. “Most in that parade would not do that.”

He dismissed their act of ugliness as simply being caught up in the moment.

“Oh well, I deserve worse,” he wrote.

In a way it’s a modern-day parable – those who preach tolerance are the least tolerant of all.

But Father Jonathan demonstrated that he not only preaches tolerance – he practices it.

A lesson for us all.

To continue reading more from Todd on ToddStarnes.com, click here.

Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook. 

Darwinian apologists attempt to spin straw into gold again.

Wishful Thinking: Chimps Know Right from Wrong

Wesley J. Smith June 29, 2015 4:54 AM 

Here is another yearning attempt by the scientific community to elevate the capacities of animals to approach those of human beings. Last time, it waschimps can cook, but don't. This time, it is chimps that supposedly have now been shown to know the difference between right and wrong!

Except, they don't. Here's what the experiment on 17 zoo animals discovered. From the story in the Daily Mail:

The clips showed chimps either performing a neutral activity such as walking or cracking nuts, aggressive adult chimps, a small colobus monkey being hunted and killed by chimps and an infant chimpanzee being killed by its own kind.

How did they react?

The chimpanzees looked far longer at infanticide scenes than at control videos showing nut cracking, hunting a colobus monkey, or displays and aggression among adult males.'

Did you get that, they looked longer! But how did the chimps respond otherwise?

However, the researchers also found while the chimps watched the infanticide scenes for longer, there was only limited evidence they became agitated or reacted to them.

Well, whatever.

From this, an ephemeral web of moral agency is weaved.

Dr Rudolf von Rohr said this perhaps suggest while chimpanzees can distinguish between right and wrong they will only respond emotionally to digressions within their own social group. She said: 'We propose that chimpanzees as uninvolved bystanders may detect norm violations but may restrict emotional reactions to such situations to in-group contexts.'

Please. Infanticide is a common thing in the animal world. It isn't right or wrong, as animals haven't a clue about the concept.

In fact, the researchers are superimposing their own anti-infanticide moral views on the morally clueless chimps.

Morality -- views that are determined through rational, emotional, philosophical, or religious analysis and societal or cultural persuasion -- is a strictly human concept in the known universe. Moreover, to state the obvious, not all societies share the same concepts of right and wrong. Rome permitted infanticide, as did Nazi Germany, and today, the Dutch, while ISIS murders babies.

Unlike animals, we craft mores -- not as a matter of instinct -- but rather, as a natural function of our human natures.

So let's recap: Chimps looked longer at a screaming infant being killed than they did at other images -- and weren't even upset. And from that we are to infer moral agency.

More like wishful thinking, I would say.

Also out of Africa(but not in a good way)

General News of Sunday, 28 June 2015

Africa lost $1 trillion in 28 years

Africa has lost $1 trillion through Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) over a 28-year period. The loss was recorded between 1980 and 2008.

The continent is reported to be losing $50 billion annually through the illegal activities of rich individuals and multinational companies in the extractive sector mostly in oil, gas and mining.

According to the African Union/Economic Commission for Africa High Level Panel (HLP) on IFFs from Africa report, the multiplier effect of these challenges were loss of jobs, income, decent education, healthcare facilities, infrastructure and other basic needs of Africans.

“Some of the effects of illicit financial outflows are the draining of foreign exchange reserves, reduced tax collection, cancelling out of investment inflows and a worsening of poverty. Such outflows which also undermine the rule of law, stifle trade and worsen macroeconomic conditions are facilitated by some 60 international tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions that enable the creating and operating of millions of disguised corporations, anonymous trust accounts, and fake charitable foundations. Other techniques used include money laundering and transfer pricing,” the report noted.

It is at the backdrop of these glitches that a campaign to battle illicit financial flows from Africa has been launched in Nairobi with a call on African governments to collaborate to stop the annual $50 billion financial loss.

Stop the Bleeding

An interim working group (IWG) of Africa IFF Campaign platform comprising - six pan-African organisations namely Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A), Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Af), Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) and Trust Africa supported and joined by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ), met at the Uhuru Park in Nairobi, Kenya to launch the campaign.

Dubbed “Stop the Bleeding” Africa IFF Campaign, individuals from all walks of life joined in the movement, which is aimed at preventing IFFs from Africa in order to promote development.

Speakers at the launch voiced their frustrations and urged Africans and African governments to collaborate to bring an end to the plundering of Africa’s wealth. The Chairperson of the Pan-African MPs Network on IFFs and Tax, Ms Khanyisile Litchfield Tshabalala; the Chairperson of the International Trade Union Confederation Africa, Mr Joel Odigie, and the Head of US-Africa Network, Dr Anyango Reggy, gave brief speeches calling for an end to IFFs.

They were unanimous in stating that Africa was not a poor continent and, therefore, deserved better.

Dr Reggy disclosed that the United States of America (USA) was also a victim of IFFs with a loss of $100 billion annually.

The March

A five-kilometre walk through major streets in Nairobi was organised after the launch.

More than 80 individuals joined the coalition in the march aimed at drumming home the need for concerted efforts to protect the African purse and resources. The procession attracted Kenyan citizens who came out of their offices to catch a glimpse of the march.

Motorists had to give way to the procession, which was under tight security. The procession began at the Uhuru Park and was rounded off at the same park. The organisers said the march would be replicated in other African countries. They also disclosed that the campaign would be sustained until Africa got what it truly deserved.

Meanwhile, a training programme on tax and IFFs organised by the Tax Justice Network – Africa (TJNA) for selected African journalists has ended in Nairobi, Kenya.

Background

Illicit financial flows out of Africa have become a matter of major concern because of the scale and negative impact of such flows on Africa’s development and governance agenda.

The amount lost by Africa through IFFs is approximately double the official development assistance (ODA) that Africa receives and, indeed, the estimate may well be short of reality as accurate data does not exist for all transactions and for all African countries, the HLP report has noted.

Preliminary evidence showed that taking prompt action to curtail illicit financial outflows from Africa would go a long way to provide a major source of funds for development programmes on the continent.

“One of the keys to achieving success is the adoption of laws, regulations and policies that encourage transparent financial transactions,” said the report.

The thinking planet?

Earth's Biosphere Is Awash in Information

Evolution News & Views 

Visualize an exoplanet far away: dynamic, comfortable, yet lifeless. It has water, plate tectonics, volcanoes, an atmosphere and all the ingredients for life -- but no life. What would be the primary factor distinguishing it from Earth? A new paper in PLOS Biology suggests that its chief drawback, all things being equal, would be a lack of complex specified information.

In this remarkable paper, Landenmark, Forgan, and Cockell of the United Kingdom Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh attempt "An Estimate of the Total DNA of the Biosphere." The results are staggering:

Modern whole-organism genome analysis, in combination with biomass estimates, allows us to estimate a lower bound on the total information content in the biosphere: 5.3 × 10³¹ (±3.6 × 10³¹) megabases (Mb) of DNA. Given conservative estimates regarding DNA transcription rates, this information content suggestsbiosphere processing speeds exceeding yottaNOPS values (10²⁴Nucleotide Operations Per Second). Although prokaryotes evolved at least 3 billion years before plants and animals, we find that the information content of prokaryotes is similar to plants and animals at the present day. This information-based approachoffers a new way to quantify anthropogenic and natural processesin the biosphere and its information diversity over time.

As a side note, they never explain their odd distinction between "natural" and "anthropomorphic" (are humans not natural?). Their last sentence just says, "This approach may help us understand the changing complexity of the biosphere over time and to predict in new ways, both anthropogenic and natural, future changes in the biosphere." Apparently even typical astrobiologists have an intuitive sense of human exceptionalism.

But returning to the topic of interest, let's ponder the scale of this information content and processing speed. A yottaNOPS is a lotta ops! Each prefix multiplies the prior one by a thousand: kilo, mega, giga, tera, peta, exa, zetta, yotta. A "yottabase" doesn't even come close to the raw information content of DNA they estimate: 10³¹ megabases. That's the same as 10³⁷ bases, but a yottabase is only 10²⁴ bases (a trillion trillion bases). This means that the information content of the biosphere is 50 x 10¹³ yottabases (500 trillion yottabases). They estimate that living computers perform a yottaNOPS, or 10²⁴ nucleotide operations per second, on this information.

You can pick yourself off the floor now.

This is a profound indication of the priority of information to life. It's not just the rocks, water, and elements that characterize Earth, but the astonishing amount of information and information processing that goes on all around us. That's why we have fish, birds, insects, bacteria, mammals, and people.

But how does a scientific materialist account for this incredible computing power? Let's see what the three astrobiologists do with it. First, they keenly recognize the similarity of DNA processing to computer processing:

Biodiversity and habitat loss is recognised as a global issue. In response, substantial research effort has been invested in genome sequencing and the preservation of vulnerable species and habitats. However, despite these remarkable advances, to our knowledge, there is still no estimate of the total information content of the biosphere. Using available DNA sequencing and genome data, combined with large-scale surveys of biomass, we present an alternative way of quantifying and understanding biodiversity. This is accomplished by adopting an information view of biodiversity, in which the total amount of information in the biosphere is represented by the available amount of DNA (Fig 1). In this way, the biosphere can be visualised as a large, parallel supercomputer, with the information storage represented by the total amount of DNA and the processing power symbolised by transcription rates. In analogy with the Internet, all organisms on Earth are individual containers of information connected through interactions and biogeochemical cycles in a large, global, bottom-up network. By combining data on genome size, spatial diversity, and mass from different prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and the viruses, we estimate the total biomass for each group and then derive a first-order, lower-bound approximation for the total DNA content of each group.

Figure 1 in their paper, reproduced above, illustrates their main point, summarized by the caption: "Storing the total amount of information encoded in DNA in the biosphere, 5.3 × 10³¹ megabases (Mb), would require approximately 10²¹ supercomputers with the average storage capacity of the world's four most powerful supercomputers."

How much land surface would be required for 10²¹ supercomputers (a "zetta-computer")? The Titan supercomputer takes up 404 m² of space. If we assume just 100 m² for each supercomputer, we would still need 10²³ square meters to hold them all. Universe Today estimates the total surface of Earth (including the oceans) at 510 million km², which equates to 5.1 x 10¹⁴ m². That's 9 orders of magnitude short of the zetta-computer footprint, meaning we would need a billion Earths to have enough space for all the computers needed to match the equivalent computing power life performs on DNA!

That calculation included the ocean surface for comparison, since much life is in the ocean. Although life occupies multiple levels in the ocean, land, and air, the biosphere represents a very thin veneer of the Earth's overall volume. It's certainly unreasonable to expect every square meter of a planet's surface to contain computers; where would the power come from? It only requires one planet -- not a billion -- to hold all the DNA processors, because life is so miniaturized and efficient, using energy from the sun.

The implications of this "information-based view of the biosphere" are not lost on the astrobiologists. They dismiss Gaia but leave a door open for intelligent design:

We note that the approach that we propose here (and the analogy of supercomputers) does not necessarily imply a global, Gaia-like superorganism. We merely observe that ultimately all organisms interact with each other and the environment. Thus, theinformation being processed in the biosphere is interlinked in a large mass of organisms, however one chooses to conceptualise this. It does not have to be considered as a single, self-regulating organism. The manner in which the total information in the biosphere is processed, and the degree to which it is coordinated and interlinked in feedback processes, is another matter, but one that could be investigated using an information-based approach.

The rest of the paper discusses how the researchers arrived at their numbers and how the values might have varied over time. (They estimated that the information content in prokaryotes, the simplest organisms, is similar to that of higher organisms -- within two orders of magnitude, which they found surprising.) They also include caveats about assumptions and uncertainties in their measurements and offer suggestions for answering future questions. The whole paper is very interesting.

But the damage is done. Even if their estimates need to be revised by a terabase or two some day, they have made it clear that our biosphere is awash in information. Though clearly evolutionists, they have presented a significant challenge to scientific materialism to account for all this processing power. Simultaneously, they demonstrate the fruitfulness of an information-based approach to the investigation of life.

Might we suggest they take a look at Being as Communion by William Dembski in their spare time.

A line in the sand XIV

Why the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage represents a new era for evangelicals

This opinion piece is by Collin Hansen, the editorial director for The Gospel Coalition.

Within the network of schools and churches and parachurch ministries that make up the evangelical movement, the fight over same-sex marriage has only just begun with the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage Friday. Thetrickle of voices advocating gay-friendly views may swell into a flood, especially if the federal government interprets the Supreme Court decision as justifying an expanded anti-discrimination agenda.

As admitted by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verelli in oral arguments, “It is going to be an issue.” Evangelical colleges and universities that uphold moral standards among students, faculty, and staff depend on various sources of federal funding. The pressure to change their standards and sanction homosexual behavior, if the alternative is closing their doors, may prove irresistible.

[Here are the key excerpts on religious liberty from the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage]

Expect in this scenario to hear many calls for a national spiritual revival that will unexpectedly halt the progress of the sexual revolution. Expect disagreement over what the compassion of Jesus Christ demands of believers in this brave new world.

Many of the loudest voices will say evangelicals must re-interpret the Scriptures as we hear how traditional views have harmed LGBTQ friends. Few will notice the faithful pastors and confidants poised to offer good news, a helping hand, and a warm shoulder to the victims and perpetrators of our age’s most dramatic cultural transformation.

Most interesting will be to observe how evangelicals understand the call to courage in a new era. Until recently in the West, Christianity demanded a particular brand of courage to resist holier-than-thou stereotypes. Criticism of evangelicals tended to highlight either naïveté or hypocrisy.

Think about the kind of Christians you’ve seen on TV. Evangelicals are the goody-two-shoes rubes, most likely from the Midwest or South, like Ned Flanders from “The Simpsons” or Kenneth Parcell from “30 Rock.” Or they’re the judgmental hypocrite like Angela Martin on “The Office,”  who would take only the Bible and “The Purpose-Driven Life” to a desert island but still sleeps around with her coworkers. Think of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert as an alleged real-life example of this type: preening moral superiors in public but deviant hypocrites in private.

Already, though, you can see the stereotypes shifting. No longer will the world try evangelicals for hypocrisy. Instead, they’re charged with bigotry, our culture’s worst sin. No longer suspected of false moral superiority, they’re accused of real moral inferiority. Rather than Victorian prudes, evangelicals have already been likened to Jim Crow segregationists for opposing gay marriage.

To much of the world, this new era looks like a tolerant utopia. But what if we’ve merely traded one older Judeo-Christian morality for modern, untested alternative? Anyone familiar with reality TV knows we’re still tempted to think better of ourselves by looking down on someone else.

We judge one another as immoral for not using the right light bulbs. For not buying organic. For voting against the anointed candidate. For sending our children to the wrong schools. For eating the wrong fast food. For buying the wrong shoes. For watching the wrong shows.

Whether you admit it or not, we all live by a moral code that rewards certain behaviors and punishes others. And this new morality shifts under your feet with the rise and fall of new internet memes.

One day you’ll chuckle at a celebrity’s crazy antics. The next day you’ll shake your head when you learn he checked into a drug rehab center. One day you’ll laugh at the wide receiver knocked silly by the hard-hitting safety. The next day you’ll mourn the linebacker who took his own life after suffering too much head trauma while delivering those blows.

You don’t know what the new morality will bless and condemn with each new day. You just know there will be something to bless and something else to condemn. The rage machine never breaks down or loses power.

Imagine this unexpected scenario: what if evangelicals emerged from exile from polite company as advocates for grace and mercy?

Imagine that Bible-thumpers reviled for following an oppressive moral code and finding solace in a judgmental God became a safe haven for the burned-out and discarded. In fact, that’s exactly what happened the last time evangelical laments of social decline reached such a fevered pitch.

The megachurch boom of the 1980s and 1990s followed the Jesus People Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. The era of free love and anti-war protests didn’t just give us good ice cream. It gave us Southern Baptist pastors in Hawaiian shirts.

Evangelicals have often been told they must get with the times. But the times to tend to have a way of catching back up with evangelicals.

A line in the sand XIII

More drama from Darwinism's apologists

Hype from New Scientist Aside, Lenski's E. coliResearch Shows Evolution of Nothing New

Casey Luskin June 25, 2015 10:45 AM

As we reported in April, the pro-Darwin media love to print triumphalist articles, declaring on the thinnest of evidence that the "creationists" are deathly scared of the latest discoveries in science. Now New Scientist takes a turn, claiming that the E. coli research of Richard Lenski "has become a poster child for evolution, causing consternation among creationists trying to explain away its compelling evidence." Yet read the article carefully, and you'll see that it confirms Lenski's research did not show the evolution of anything new.

New Scientist frames the article this way:

The biggest evolutionary shift occurred after about the 31,500 generation, when one line in one of the 12 populations evolved the ability to feed on citrate

Except that's not true. Normal E. coli already have the ability to feed on citrate -- they just don't typically do it under oxic conditions (i.e., where oxygen is present). The interesting thing about Lenski's research is that his bugs evolved the ability to uptake citrate under oxic conditions. But did anything new evolve? Here's what the article says:

But a mutation in the citrate-eaters allowed them to make an "antiporter" protein, CitT, that allows citrate to cross the membrane and enter the cell. The gene for this protein already existed, but it's usually switched off when oxygen is present.

The antiporter is a kind of revolving door. It allows one molecule to be swapped for another. In this case, the citrate is imported into the cell in exchange for one of three smaller, less-valuable molecules: succinate, fumarate or malate.

What really happened? A switch that normally represses expression of CitT under oxic conditions was broken, so the citrate-uptake pathway got turned on. This isn't the evolution of a new molecular feature. It's the breaking of a molecular feature -- a repressor switch. Of course none of this is disclosed in the article.

But New Scientist isn't done. It goes on:

Those citrate feeders soon became dominant, outcompeting all but one other strain of E. coli, which in turn evolved to exploit the changed environment -- which now contained the three exported molecules.

It did this by making more of a transporter protein called DctA, which imports - at a small energy cost - succinate and other molecules exported by the citrate-eating strain.

But things did not stop there. The citrate-eaters then also started making more DctA to try to claw back some of the succinate and other molecules they were losing in the process of acquiring citrate.

Again, did anything new evolve? No -- all we see is overexpression of pre-existing genes.

So in the end, E. coli are able to eat things that they could already metabolize before the experiments began. A molecular repressor switch has been broken, and another protein has been overexpressed.

Nothing new to see here: these are all the kinds of changes we already know Darwinian evolution can do -- breaking things at the molecular level, or making more of something you already have. This is how New Scientist spins it:

Turner's findings are also yet another example of the mindlessness of evolution. The best solution would be to use a little energy to import citrate directly, the paper says, rather than swapping it for succinate and then spending energy to try to get that succinate back before other bacteria can feed on it.

Bacteria are found almost everywhere on the earth -- from inside virtually every living organism to the deep sea to deep underground. They seem designed to be able to feed on just about anything they encounter. What Lenski may be seeing is the designed ability of bacteria to adapt to new environments using a diverse suite of metabolic pathways they have been gifted with, including the ability to break things or make more of them when needed.

The media will tell you that this shows the amazing power of "mindless" Darwinian evolution. A closer look at the facts reveals nothing of the sort.

Exodus29-35NWT(2013 Edition)

29 “This is what you are to do to sanctify them to serve as priests to me: Take a young bull, two unblemished rams,+ 2 unleavened bread, unleavened ring-shaped loaves mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil.+ You are to make them with fine wheat flour 3 and put them in a basket and present them in the basket,+ along with the bull and the two rams.

4 “You will present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the tent of meeting+ and wash them with water.+ 5 Then you are to take the garments+ and clothe Aaron with the robe, the sleeveless coat of the ephʹod, the ephʹod, and the breastpiece, and you are to tie the woven belt* of the ephʹod securely around his waist.+ 6 You will put the turban on his head and put the holy sign of dedication* on the turban;+ 7 and take the anointing oil+ and pour it on his head and anoint him.+

8 “Then bring his sons forward and clothe them with the robes+ 9 and wrap the sashes around them, Aaron as well as his sons, and put on their headgear; and the priesthood will become theirs as a permanent statute.+ This is how you should install Aaron and his sons to serve as priests.*+

10 “You are now to present the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the bull’s head.+ 11 Slaughter the bull before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.+ 12 Take some of the bull’s blood on your finger and put it on the horns of the altar,+ and pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.+ 13 Then take all the fat+ that covers the intestines, the appendage on the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them so that they smoke on the altar.+ 14 But the bull’s flesh and its skin and its dung, you will burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.

15 “Then take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head.+ 16 Slaughter the ram and take its blood and sprinkle it on all sides of the altar.+ 17 Cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its intestines+ and its shanks, and arrange the pieces together with its head. 18 You must burn the entire ram, making it smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering to Jehovah, a pleasing* aroma.+ It is an offering made by fire to Jehovah.

19 “Next you are to take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head.+ 20 Slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe and on his sons’ right earlobe and on the thumb of their right hand and the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood on all sides of the altar. 21 Then take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil+ and spatter it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and his sons’ garments, so that he and his garments and his sons and their garments may be holy.+

22 “Then take from the ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the intestines, the appendage of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them,+ and the right leg, for it is a ram of installation.+ 23 Take also a round loaf of bread and a ring-shaped loaf of oiled bread and a wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before Jehovah. 24 You must place them all in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you are to wave them back and forth as a wave offering before Jehovah. 25 Then you will take them out of their hands and burn them on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing*aroma before Jehovah. It is an offering made by fire to Jehovah.

26 “Then take the breast of the ram of installation,+ which is offered in behalf of Aaron, and wave it back and forth as a wave offering before Jehovah, and it will become your portion. 27 You are to sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the leg of the sacred portion that was waved and that was taken from the ram of installation,+ from what was offered for Aaron and for his sons. 28 It is to become Aaron’s and his sons’ by a permanent regulation to be carried out by the Israelites, for it is a sacred portion, and it will become a sacred portion to be given by the Israelites.+ It is their sacred portion for Jehovah from their communion sacrifices.+

29 “The holy garments+ that belong to Aaron will be used by his sons+ after him when they are anointed and installed as priests. 30 The priest from among his sons who succeeds him and who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place will wear them for seven days.+

31 “You will take the ram of installation and boil its flesh in a holy place.+32 Aaron and his sons will eat+ the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 33 They are to eat the things with which atonement was made to install them as priests* and to sanctify them. But an unauthorized person* may not eat them, for they are something holy.+ 34 If any of the flesh of the installation sacrifice and of the bread is left over until the morning, then you must burn what is left with fire.+ It must not be eaten, for it is something holy.

35 “You are to do this way to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. You will take seven days to install them as priests.*+ 36 You will offer the bull of the sin offering daily for an atonement, and you are to purify the altar from sin by making atonement for it, and you must anoint it to sanctify it.+ 37 You will take seven days to make atonement for the altar, and you must sanctify it so that it may become a most holy altar.+ Anyone who touches the altar is to be holy.

38 “This is what you will offer on the altar: two one-year-old rams each day, continually.+ 39 Offer the one young ram in the morning and the other ram at twilight.*+ 40 A tenth part of an eʹphah measure* of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin* of beaten oil, and a drink offering of a fourth of a hin of wine, will go for the first young ram. 41 You will offer the second young ram at twilight,*along with the same grain and drink offerings as in the morning. You will render it as a pleasing* aroma, an offering made by fire to Jehovah. 42 It is to be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before Jehovah, where I will present myself to you to speak to you there.+

43 “I will present myself there to the Israelites, and it will be sanctified by my glory.+ 44 I will sanctify the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will sanctify Aaron and his sons+ so that they may serve as priests to me. 45 I will reside*among the people of Israel, and I will be their God.+ 46 And they will certainly know that I am Jehovah their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I may reside among them.+ I am Jehovah their God.

30 “You are to make an altar as a place for burning incense;+ you will make it of acacia wood.+ 2 It should be square, one cubit* long, one cubit wide, and two cubits high. Its horns will be one piece with it.+ 3 You are to overlay it with pure gold: its top surface, its sides all around, and its horns; and you are to make a gold border* around it. 4 You will also make two rings of gold for it below its border* on two opposite sides, and these will hold the poles used to carry it.5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 You are to put it before the curtain that is near the ark of the Testimony,+ before the cover that is over the Testimony, where I will present myself to you.+

7 “Aaron+ will burn perfumed incense+ on it,+ making it smoke on the altar when he maintains the lamps+ each morning. 8 Also, when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight,* he will burn the incense. It is a regular incense offering before Jehovah throughout your generations. 9 You must not offer on it unauthorized incense+ or a burnt offering or a grain offering, and you must not pour a drink offering on it. 10 Aaron must make atonement on its horns once a year.+ With some of the blood of the sin offering of the atonement,+ he will make atonement for it once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to Jehovah.”

11 Then Jehovah said to Moses: 12 “Whenever you take a census and count the sons of Israel,+ each one must give a ransom for his life* to Jehovah at the time of the census. This is so that no plague may be brought upon them when they are registered. 13 This is what all those who are registered will give: a half shekel* by the standard shekel of the holy place.*+ Twenty geʹrahs* equal a shekel. A half shekel is the contribution to Jehovah.+ 14 Everyone registered who is 20 years old and up will give Jehovah’s contribution.+ 15 The rich should not give more and the poor should not give less than the half shekel* as a contribution to Jehovah to make atonement for your lives.* 16 You are to take the silver money of the atonement from the Israelites and give it in behalf of the service of the tent of meeting, that it may serve as a remembrance before Jehovah for the Israelites, to make atonement for your lives.”*

17 Jehovah spoke further to Moses, saying: 18 “Make a copper basin and its stand for washing;+ then place it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water into it.+ 19 Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet there.+ 20 When they go into the tent of meeting or when they approach the altar to minister and to make offerings of fire and smoke to Jehovah, they will wash with water so that they do not die. 21 They must wash their hands and their feet so that they may not die, and it must serve as a permanent regulation for them, for him and his offspring, throughout their generations.”+

22 Jehovah continued to speak to Moses: 23 “Next, take the choicest perfumes: 500 units of solidified myrrh, and half that amount, 250 units, of sweet cinnamon, 250 units of sweet calamus, 24 and 500 units of cassia, measured by the standard shekel of the holy place,*+ along with a hin* of olive oil. 25 Then make out of it a holy anointing oil; it should be skillfully blended together.*+ It is to be a holy anointing oil.

26 “You are to anoint the tent of meeting+ and the ark of the Testimony with it, 27 as well as the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand. 29 You must sanctify them that they may become most holy.+Anyone touching them is to be holy.+ 30 And you will anoint Aaron+ and his sons+ and sanctify them to serve as priests to me.+

31 “You will speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘This is to continue as a holy anointing oil to me during your generations.+ 32 It is not to be applied to the flesh of mankind, and you must not make anything with a composition like it. It is something holy. It is to continue as something holy for you. 33 Anyone who makes an ointment like it and who puts some of it on an unauthorized person*must be cut off* from his people.’”+

34 Then Jehovah said to Moses: “Take equal portions of these perfumes:+stacte drops, onycha, perfumed galbanum, and pure frankincense. 35 Make it into an incense;+ the spice mixture should be skillfully blended,* salted,+ pure, and holy. 36 You are to pound some of it into fine powder and put some of it before the Testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will present myself to you. It should be most holy to you. 37 You must not make for your own use the incense that you make with this composition.+ You are to regard it as something holy to Jehovah. 38 Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its smell must be cut off* from his people.”

31 Jehovah continued to speak to Moses, saying: 2 “See, I have chosen*Bezʹal·el+ the son of Uʹri the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah.+ 3 I will fill him with the spirit of God, giving him wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of every kind of craftsmanship, 4 for making artistic designs, for working with gold, silver, and copper, 5 for cutting and setting stones,+ and for making every kind of wood product.+ 6 Moreover, to assist him I have appointed O·hoʹli·ab+the son of A·hisʹa·mach of the tribe of Dan, and I am putting wisdom into the heart of all those who are skillful,* so that they may make everything I have commanded you:+ 7 the tent of meeting,+ the ark of the Testimony+ and the cover+ that is on it, all the utensils of the tent, 8 the table+ and its utensils, the lampstand of pure gold and all its utensils,+ the altar of incense,+ 9 the altar of burnt offering+ and all its utensils, the basin and its stand,+ 10 the finely woven garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, the garments of his sons to serve as priests,+ 11 the anointing oil, and the perfumed incense for the sanctuary.+ They will do everything I have commanded you.”

12 Jehovah said further to Moses: 13 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘Especially, you are to keep my sabbaths,+ for it is a sign between me and you during your generations in order that you may know that I, Jehovah, am sanctifying you. 14 You must keep the Sabbath, for it is something holy to you.+Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does any work on it, then that person* must be cut off* from among his people.+ 15 Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest.+ It is something holy to Jehovah. Anyone doing work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.16 The Israelites must keep the Sabbath; they must observe the Sabbath during all their generations. It is a lasting covenant. 17 It is an enduring sign between me and the people of Israel,+ for in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day he rested and refreshed himself.’”+

18 Now as soon as he had finished speaking with him on Mount Siʹnai, he gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony,+ tablets of stone written on by God’s finger.+

32 Meanwhile, the people saw that Moses was taking a long time coming down from the mountain.+ So the people gathered around Aaron and said to him: “Get up, make for us a god who will go ahead of us,+ because we do not know what has happened to this Moses, the man who led us up out of the land of Egypt.” 2 At this Aaron said to them: “Take the gold earrings+ from the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people began taking off the gold earrings that were in their ears and bringing them to Aaron.4 Then he took the gold from them, and he formed it with an engraving tool and made it into a statue* of a calf.+ They began to say: “This is your God, O Israel, who led you up out of the land of Egypt.”+

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. Then Aaron called out: “There is a festival to Jehovah tomorrow.” 6 So they got up early on the next day and began offering up burnt offerings and presenting communion sacrifices. After that the people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to have a good time.+

7 Jehovah now said to Moses: “Go, descend, because your people, whom you led up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.+ 8 They have quickly deviated from the way I commanded them to go.+ They have made for themselves a statue* of a calf, and they keep bowing down to it and sacrificing to it and saying, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who led you up out of the land of Egypt.’” 9 Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “I have seen that this is an obstinate* people.+ 10 So now let me be, and I will exterminate them in my burning anger, and let me make a great nation from you instead.”+

11 Then Moses appealed to* Jehovah his God+ and said: “Why, O Jehovah, should you turn your burning anger against your people after bringing them out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?+ 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had evil intentions when he led them out. He wanted to kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the surface of the earth’?+Turn from your burning anger and reconsider* your decision to bring this calamity on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom you swore by yourself and said: ‘I will multiply your offspring*like the stars of the heavens,+ and I will give all this land that I have designated to your offspring,* so that they may take it as a permanent possession.’”+

14 So Jehovah began to reconsider* the calamity that he had spoken of bringing on his people.+

15 Moses then turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony+ in his hand.+ The tablets were inscribed on both sides; they were written on the front and on the back. 16 The tablets were the workmanship of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.+17 When Joshua began to hear the noise of the people because of their shouting, he said to Moses: “There is the sound of battle in the camp.” 18 But Moses said:

“It is not the sound of singing over a victory,*

And it is not the sound of wailing over a defeat;

I hear the sound of another kind of singing.”

19 As soon as Moses got near the camp and saw the calf+ and the dances, his anger began to blaze, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.+ 20 He took the calf that they had made and he burned it with fire and crushed it into powder;+ then he scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.+ 21 And Moses said to Aaron: “What did this people do to you that you have brought a great sin upon them?” 22 Aaron replied: “Do not be enraged, my lord. You well know that the people are inclined to do evil.+ 23 So they said to me, ‘Make for us a god who will go ahead of us, for we do not know what has happened to this Moses, the man who led us up out of the land of Egypt.’+ 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold must take it off and give it to me.’ Then I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.”

25 Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, for Aaron had let them go unrestrained, so that they were a disgrace before their opposers. 26 Then Moses took his position in the gate of the camp and said: “Who is on Jehovah’s side? Come to me!”+ And all the Levites gathered around him. 27 He now said to them: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘Each of you must fasten on his sword and pass through all the camp from gate to gate, killing his brother, his neighbor, and his close companion.’”+ 28 The Levites did what Moses said. So about 3,000 men were killed on that day. 29 Then Moses said: “Set yourselves apart* for Jehovah today, for each of you has gone against his own son and his own brother;+ today he will give you a blessing.”+

30 On the very next day, Moses said to the people: “You committed a very great sin, and now I will go up to Jehovah to see if I can make amends for your sin.”+ 31 So Moses returned to Jehovah and said: “What a great sin this people has committed! They made themselves a god of gold!+ 32 But now if you are willing, pardon their sin;+ if not, please wipe me out from your book that you have written.”+ 33 However, Jehovah said to Moses: “Whoever has sinned against me, I will wipe him out of my book. 34 Go now, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you. Look! My angel will go ahead of you,+and on the day when I make an accounting, I will bring punishment on them for their sin.” 35 Then Jehovah began plaguing the people because they had made the calf, the one that Aaron had made.

33 Jehovah said further to Moses: “Go on your way from here with the people whom you led up out of the land of Egypt. Journey to the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring* I will give it.’+2 I will send an angel ahead of you+ and drive out the Caʹnaan·ites, the Amʹor·ites, the Hitʹtites, the Perʹiz·zites, the Hiʹvites, and the Jebʹu·sites.+ 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey.+ But I will not go in the midst of you, for you are an obstinate* people,+ and I might exterminate you on the way.”+

4 When the people heard this harsh word, they began to mourn, and not one of them put on his ornaments. 5 Jehovah said to Moses: “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are an obstinate* people.+ In one moment I could go through the midst of you and exterminate you.+ So now keep your ornaments off while I consider what to do to you.’” 6 So from Mount Hoʹreb onward, the Israelites refrained from wearing* their ornaments.

7 Now Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, at some distance from the camp, and he called it a tent of meeting. Everyone inquiring of Jehovah+ would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 As soon as Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrance of their own tents, and they would gaze after Moses until he entered into the tent. 9 As soon as Moses would go into the tent, the pillar of cloud+would come down and stand at the entrance of the tent while God spoke with Moses.+ 10 When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, each of them rose and bowed down at the entrance of his own tent.11 Jehovah spoke to Moses face-to-face,+ just as one man would speak to another man. When he returned to the camp, Joshua+ the son of Nun, his minister and attendant,+ would not depart from the tent.

12 Now Moses said to Jehovah: “See, you are saying to me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Moreover, you have said, ‘I know you by name,* and you have also found favor in my eyes.’13 Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, make me know your ways,+ so that I may know you and continue to find favor in your eyes. Consider, too, that this nation is your people.”+ 14 So he said: “I myself* will go with you,+ and I will give you rest.”+ 15 Then Moses said to him: “If you yourself are* not going along, do not lead us up from here. 16 How will it be known that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Is it not by your going along with us,+ so that I and your people will be distinguished from every other people on the face of the earth?”+

17 Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “I will also do this thing that you request, because you have found favor in my eyes and I know you by name.”18 Then he said: “Please show me your glory.” 19 But he said: “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will declare before you the name of Jehovah;+ and I will favor the one whom I favor, and I will show mercy to the one to whom I show mercy.”+ 20 But he added: “You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.”

21 Jehovah said further: “Here is a place near me. Station yourself on the rock. 22 When my glory is passing by, I will place you in a crevice of the rock, and I will shield you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 After that I will take my hand away, and you will see my back. But my face may not be seen.”+

34 Then Jehovah said to Moses: “Carve out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones,+ and I will write on the tablets the words that appeared on the first tablets,+ which you shattered.+ 2 Get ready for the morning, as you will go up in the morning to Mount Siʹnai and station yourself before me there on the top of the mountain.+ 3 But nobody may go up with you, and nobody else should be seen anywhere on the mountain. Not even the flocks or herds should graze in front of that mountain.”+

4 So Moses carved out two tablets of stone like the first ones and got up early in the morning and went up Mount Siʹnai, just as Jehovah had commanded him, and he took the two tablets of stone in his hand. 5 Then Jehovah came down+ in the cloud and stationed himself with him there and declared the name of Jehovah.+ 6 Jehovah was passing before him and declaring: “Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful+ and compassionate,*+ slow to anger+ and abundant in loyal love*+ and truth,*+ 7 showing loyal love to thousands,+ pardoning error and transgression and sin,+ but he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished,+ bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons and upon grandsons, upon the third generation and upon the fourth generation.”+

8 Moses hurried to bow low to the earth and prostrate himself. 9 Then he said: “If, now, I have found favor in your eyes, O Jehovah, then please, Jehovah, go along with us in our midst,+ although we are an obstinate* people,+ and forgive our error and our sin,+ and take us as your own possession.” 10 In turn he said: “Here I am making a covenant: Before all your people, I will do wonderful things that have never been done* in all the earth or among all the nations,+ and all the people among whom you live will see the work of Jehovah, for it is an awe-inspiring thing that I am doing with you.+

11 “Pay attention to what I am commanding you today.+ Here I am driving out from before you the Amʹor·ites, the Caʹnaan·ites, the Hitʹtites, the Perʹiz·zites, the Hiʹvites, and the Jebʹu·sites.+ 12 Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going,+ or it may prove to be a snare among you.+ 13 But you are to pull down their altars, you are to shatter their sacred pillars, and their sacred poles* you are to cut down.+ 14 You must not bow down to another god,+ for Jehovah is known for* requiring exclusive devotion.* Yes, he is a God who requires exclusive devotion.+ 15 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, because when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods,+ someone will invite you and you will eat from his sacrifice.+ 16 Then you will surely take some of their daughters for your sons,+ and their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves to their gods.+

17 “You must not make gods of cast metal.+

18 “You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread.+ You will eat unleavened bread, just as I have commanded you; do this for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Aʹbib,*+ because it was in the month of Aʹbib that you came out of Egypt.

19 “Every firstborn male* is mine,+ including all your livestock, whether the first male bull or sheep.+ 20 The firstling of a donkey you are to redeem with a sheep. But if you do not redeem it, then you must break its neck. You are to redeem every firstborn of your sons.+ No one may appear before me empty-handed.

21 “Six days you are to work, but on the seventh day you will rest.*+ Even during plowing time and in harvest, you will rest.

22 “And you will celebrate your Festival of Weeks with the first ripe fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering* at the turn of the year.+

23 “Three times a year, all your men* are to appear before the true Lord, Jehovah, the God of Israel.+ 24 For I will drive the nations away from before you,+ and I will enlarge your territory, and nobody will desire your land while you are going up to see the face of Jehovah your God three times a year.

25 “You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice along with anything leavened.+ The sacrifice of the festival of the Passover should not be kept overnight until the morning.+

26 “The best of the first ripe fruits of your soil you are to bring to the house of Jehovah your God.+

“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”+

27 Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “You are to write down these words,+because in accordance with these words, I am making a covenant with you and with Israel.”+ 28 And he remained there with Jehovah 40 days and 40 nights. He ate no bread and drank no water.+ And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.*+

29 Moses then came down from Mount Siʹnai, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand.+ When he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face was emitting rays because he had been speaking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, they noticed that the skin of his face emitted rays and they were afraid to go near him.+

31 But Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the chieftains of the assembly came to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 After that all the Israelites came near to him, and he gave them all the commands that Jehovah had given him on Mount Siʹnai.+ 33 When Moses would finish speaking with them, he would put a veil over his face.+ 34 But when Moses would go in before Jehovah to speak with him, he would take off the veil until he went out.+ Then he went out and revealed to the Israelites the commands he had received.+ 35 And the Israelites saw that the skin of Moses’ face emitted rays; then Moses put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with God.*+

35 Moses later gathered the entire assembly of the Israelites together and said to them: “These are the things that Jehovah has commanded to be done:+2 Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day will become something holy to you, a sabbath of complete rest to Jehovah.+ Anybody doing work on it will be put to death.+ 3 You must not light a fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”

4 Moses then said to the entire assembly of the Israelites: “This is what Jehovah has commanded, 5 ‘Take up a contribution for Jehovah from among yourselves.+ Let everyone with a willing heart+ bring a contribution for Jehovah: gold, silver, copper, 6 blue thread, purple wool, scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair,+ 7 ram skins dyed red, sealskins, acacia wood, 8 oil for the lamps, balsam for the anointing oil and for the perfumed incense,+ 9 onyx stones, and other stones for setting in the ephʹod+ and the breastpiece.+

10 “‘Let all who are skilled*+ among you come and make everything that Jehovah has commanded, 11 namely, the tabernacle with its tent and its covering, its clasps and its panel frames, its bars, its pillars, and its socket pedestals; 12 the Ark+ and its poles,+ the cover,+ and the curtain+ for the screen; 13 the table+ and its poles and all its utensils and the showbread;+14 the lampstand+ for light and its utensils and its lamps and the oil for lighting;+ 15 the altar of incense+ and its poles; the anointing oil and the perfumed incense;+ the screen* for the tabernacle’s entrance; 16 the altar of burnt offering+ and its copper grating, its poles and all its utensils; the basin and its stand;+ 17 the hanging curtains of the courtyard,+ its pillars and its socket pedestals; the screen* of the entrance to the courtyard; 18 the tent pins of the tabernacle and the tent pins of the courtyard and their cords;+ 19 the finely woven garments+ for ministering in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron+the priest, and the garments of his sons for serving as priests.’”

20 So all the assembly of the Israelites went out from before Moses. 21 Then everyone whose heart impelled him+ and everyone whose spirit incited him came and brought their contribution for Jehovah to be used for the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 They kept coming, the men along with the women, each with a willing heart, bringing brooches, earrings, rings, and other jewelry, as well as all sorts of articles of gold. They all presented their offerings* of gold to Jehovah.+ 23 And all who had blue thread, purple wool, scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, and sealskins brought them. 24 All those contributing silver and copper brought Jehovah’s contribution, and all who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it.

25 All the skilled women+ spun with their hands, and they brought what they had spun: blue thread, purple wool, scarlet material, and fine linen. 26 And all the skilled women whose hearts impelled them spun the goat hair.

27 And the chieftains brought onyx stones and other stones to be set in the ephʹod and the breastpiece,+ 28 and the balsam and the oil for lighting and for the anointing oil+ and for the perfumed incense.+ 29 All the men and women whose hearts incited them brought something for the work that Jehovah, through Moses, had commanded to be done; the Israelites brought it as a voluntary offering to Jehovah.+

30 Then Moses said to the Israelites: “See, Jehovah has chosen Bezʹal·el the son of Uʹri the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah.+ 31 He has filled him with the spirit of God, giving him wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of every sort of craftsmanship 32 for making artistic designs, for working with gold, silver, and copper, 33 for cutting and setting stones, and for making all kinds of artistic wood products. 34 And he has put it into his heart to teach, he and O·hoʹli·ab+the son of A·hisʹa·mach of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with skill*+ to do all the work of a craftsman, an embroiderer, and a weaver using blue thread, purple wool, scarlet material, and fine linen, and of a loom worker. These men will do every sort of work and prepare every sort of design.