The Golden Calf
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When the people saw that Moses v delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, w "Up, make us gods who shall x go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."
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So Aaron said to them, "Take off the y rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."
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So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
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z And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, a "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
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When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron b made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord."
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And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And c the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up d to play.
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And the Lord said to Moses, e "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have f corrupted themselves.
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They have turned aside quickly out of the way that g I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"
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And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, h it is a stiff-necked people.
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Now therefore i let me alone, that j my wrath may burn hot against them and k I may consume them, in order that l I may make a great nation of you."
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But m Moses implored the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
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n Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and o relent from this disaster against your people.
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Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you p swore by your own self, and said to them, q 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
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And the Lord r relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
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Then s Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the t two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.
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u The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
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When v Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."
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But he said, "It is not the sound of w shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear."
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And as soon as he came near the camp and x saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
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He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
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And Moses said to Aaron, y "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?"
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And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. z You know the people, that they are set on evil.
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For a they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'
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So b I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."
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And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, c to the derision of their enemies),
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then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.
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And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you d kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'"
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And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.
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And Moses said, "Today you have been e ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day."
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The next day Moses said to the people, f "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; g perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
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So Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Alas, f this people has sinned a great sin. They have h made for themselves gods of gold.
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But now, if i you will forgive their sin - but if not, please j blot me out of k your book that you have written."
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But the Lord said to Moses, l "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.
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m But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; n behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them."
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Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
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Cross References
Exodus 24:18
Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Deuteronomy 9:9
When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
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Cross References
Exodus 32:23
For they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
Acts 7:40
Saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
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Cross References
Exodus 13:21
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
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Cross References
Exodus 12:35 - 36
The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
Judges 8:24 - 27
And Gideon said to them, "Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil." (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 9:16
And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you.
Nehemiah 9:18
Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed great blasphemies.
Psalms 106:19
They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image.
Acts 7:41
And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.
Judges 17:3 - 4
And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, "I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.
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Cross References
1 Kings 12:28
So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
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Cross References
2 Kings 10:20
And Jehu ordered, "Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal." So they proclaimed it.
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Cross References
1 Corinthians 10:7
Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
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Cross References
Genesis 26:8
When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife.
Judges 21:21
And watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 9:12
Then the Lord said to me, 'Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.
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Cross References
Judges 2:19
But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
Hosea 9:9
They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.
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Cross References
Exodus 20:3 - 4
You shall have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:23
You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.
Deuteronomy 9:16
And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you.
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Cross References
Exodus 33:3
Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; bu...
Exodus 33:5
For the Lord had said to Moses, "Say to the peo...
Exodus 34:9
And he said, "If now I have found favor in your...
Deuteronomy 9:6
Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not ...
Deuteronomy 9:13
Furthermore, the Lord said to me, 'I have seen ...
Deuteronomy 31:27
For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are....
2 Chronicles 30:8
Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were...
Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart...
Isaiah 48:4
Because I know that you are obstinate, and your...
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 9:14
Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.
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Cross References
Exodus 22:24
And my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
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Cross References
Exodus 33:3
Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.
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Cross References
Numbers 14:12
I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 9:18
Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.
Deuteronomy 9:26 - 29
And I prayed to the Lord, 'O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Psalms 106:23
Therefore he said he would destroy them - had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
Psalms 74:1 - 2
O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:27
Had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, it was not the Lord who did all this."
Numbers 14:13 - 16
But Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them.
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Cross References
Exodus 32:14
And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
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Cross References
Genesis 22:16
And said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son.
Hebrews 6:13
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself.
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Cross References
Genesis 12:7
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To y...
Genesis 13:15
For all the land that you see I will give to yo...
Genesis 15:7
And he said to him, "I am the Lord who brought ...
Genesis 15:18
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram...
Genesis 26:4
I will multiply your offspring as the stars of ...
Genesis 28:13
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "...
Genesis 35:11 - 12
And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fru...
Genesis 48:16
The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bl...
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Cross References
Psalms 106:45
For their sake he remembered his covenant, and ...
1 Chronicles 21:15
And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy ...
Jeremiah 18:8
And if that nation, concerning which I have spo...
Jeremiah 26:13
Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, an...
Jeremiah 26:15
Only know for certain that if you put me to dea...
Jeremiah 26:19
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put hi...
Amos 7:3
The Lord relented concerning this: "It shall no...
Amos 7:6
The Lord relented concerning this: "This also s...
Jonah 3:10
When God saw what they did, how they turned fro...
Jonah 4:2
And he prayed to the Lord and said, "O Lord, is...
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 9:15
So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
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Cross References
Exodus 34:29
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
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Cross References
Exodus 31:18
And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
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Cross References
Exodus 17:9 - 10
So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.
Exodus 24:13
So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.
Exodus 33:11
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 51:14
The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself: Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts, and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 9:16 - 17
And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you.
Deuteronomy 9:21
Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
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Cross References
Genesis 20:9
Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.
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Cross References
Exodus 14:11
They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no...
Exodus 15:24
And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ...
Exodus 16:2
And the whole congregation of the people of Isr...
Exodus 16:20
But they did not listen to Moses. Some left par...
Exodus 17:2
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and s...
Exodus 17:4
So Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do wi...
1 Samuel 15:24
Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have...
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Cross References
Exodus 32:1
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
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Cross References
Exodus 32:2 - 4
So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.
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Cross References
Exodus 32:12
Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.
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Cross References
Numbers 25:5
And Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.
Deuteronomy 33:9
Who said of his father and mother, 'I regard them not'; he disowned his brothers and ignored his children. For they observed your word and kept your covenant.
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Cross References
Zechariah 13:3
And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, 'You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.' And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.
Matthew 10:37
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Luke 14:26
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Numbers 25:11 - 13
Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.
Deuteronomy 13:6 - 10
If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which neither you nor your fathers have known.
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Cross References
Exodus 32:21
And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?
1 Samuel 12:20
And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
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Cross References
2 Samuel 16:12
It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.
Amos 5:15
Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
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Cross References
Exodus 32:30
The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord ; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.
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Cross References
Exodus 20:23
You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.
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Cross References
Numbers 14:19
Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.
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Cross References
Romans 9:3
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
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Cross References
Psalms 56:8
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
Psalms 69:28
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
Psalms 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Daniel 12:1
At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.
Philippians 4:3
Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 18:4
Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
Ezekiel 18:20
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
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Cross References
Exodus 33:12
Moses said to the Lord, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.
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Cross References
Exodus 14:19
Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.