Epistle of Barnabas 14

Moses Broke the Tablets, and the Covenant Waited

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Let Us See Whether He Gave the Covenant

14:1Yes; but let us see whether He gave the covenant He swore to the fathers to give to the people. He gave it; but because of their sins they did not prove worthy to receive it.

14:2For the prophet says: “Moses was fasting on Mount Sinai forty days and forty nights to receive the Lord’s covenant for the people. Moses received from the Lord the two tablets written in the Spirit by the finger of the Lord’s hand. Having received them, Moses carried them down to give to the people.”

14:3The Lord said to Moses: “Moses, Moses, come down quickly, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have acted lawlessly.” Moses understood that they had again made cast images for themselves. He threw the tablets from his hands, and the tablets of the Lord’s covenant were shattered.

14:4Moses received it, but they did not prove worthy. Learn how we received it. Moses received it as a servant, but the Lord Himself gave it to us as a people of inheritance, having endured for our sake.

He Appeared So That They Might Be Perfected

14:5He appeared so that they might reach the full measure of their sins, and we might receive the covenant through the Lord Jesus who inherits it. He was prepared for this purpose: appearing Himself and redeeming from darkness our hearts, already consumed by death and handed over to the lawlessness of deception, He might establish a covenant in us by a word.

14:6For it is written how the Father commands Him, after redeeming us from darkness, to prepare a holy people for Himself.

14:7The prophet says: “I, the Lord your God, called You in righteousness. I will grasp Your hand and strengthen You. I gave You as a covenant for a people, as a light for nations, to open blind eyes, to bring the shackled out of bonds and those sitting in darkness out of prison.” We therefore know from where we were redeemed.

14:8Again the prophet says: “Look, I have set You as a light for nations, so that You may be salvation to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the God who redeemed You.”

14:9Again the prophet says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to proclaim good news of grace to the lowly. He sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to announce an acceptable year of the Lord and a day of repayment, to comfort all who mourn.”

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.