Exoduschapter 24
18 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · The Law
In Jewish life
The reading
Weekly portion 18 of 54
מִשְׁפָּטִים Mishpatim, Exodus 21:1 to 24:18
Read with it: Jeremiah 34:8 to 34:22 and 33:25 to 33:26.
The verse numbers here are the ones a Hebrew Bible carries, which differ from an English Bible by a verse or two in several places. The Sephardi reading is named only where this site records a difference; communities vary beyond what is listed. What these books are, and how a Christian reader meets them →
How it is read
The chapter seals the covenant in blood and sends Moses into the cloud. The classical reading is mostly a reading of its order and its dates. Rashi holds that the call to come up was spoken before the Ten Words were given, and dates it to the fourth of Sivan (Rashi on Exodus 24:1:1, citing Shabbat 88a). The telling of the words to the people falls on that same day. The early rising of the fourth verse falls on the fifth of Sivan (Rashi on Exodus 24:3:1 and 24:4:2). What Moses wrote at that point Rashi limits to the Torah from its beginning up to the giving of the law, together with the commands given at Marah. The book of the covenant of the seventh verse has the same contents (Rashi on Exodus 24:4:1 and 24:7:1). The young men who offered the sacrifices are the firstborn sons (Rashi on Exodus 24:5:1, citing Zevachim 115b and Onkelos). The two basins hold the blood of the burnt offering and of the peace offerings. From them the Rabbis drew the three acts by which Israel entered the covenant, circumcision, immersion and the sprinkling of blood (Rashi on Exodus 24:6:2, citing Keritot 9a). The seeing of the God of Israel at the tenth verse is read as a fault rather than a gift. The nobles "gazed intently and failing in this they peeped", and the punishment was held back so that the joy of the giving of the Torah would stand (Rashi on Exodus 24:10:1). The cloud that covered the mountain for six days is a point the Rabbis themselves differ on. Rashi reports their difference rather than settling it (Rashi on Exodus 24:16:1). Through that cloud God made a path for Moses (Rashi on Exodus 24:18:1, citing Yoma 4b). Rashi is quoted from the Rosenbaum and Silbermann edition of 1929 to 1934, public domain. Ibn Ezra comments at Exodus 24:1:1, 24:2:1, 24:5:1, 24:9:1, 24:15:1 and 24:17:1 under a licence that keeps his text off this page.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty places where the Midrash and the Talmud draw on this chapter, cited here by reference. The covenant meal and the sprinkled blood are read in Avot DeRabbi Natan at 1:1, 1:8, 20:1 and 36:3. Its second recension carries them at 1:2, 25:7 and 46:16. The Ein Yaakov collections read them at Keritot 2:1, Nedarim 3:7, Nedarim 3:12 and Rosh Hashanah 2:2. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael reads the chapter at Tractate Bachodesh 2:25 and 3:2, and at Tractate Pischa 16:25. Bamidbar Rabbah carries it at 9:48, 11:3, 12:3 and 12:9. It carries it again at 15:21, 15:24, 17:5 and 19:33. The ascent and the forty days are drawn into the Jerusalem Talmud at Taanit 4:2:12 and 4:5:2. The same Talmud reads them at Megillah 1:11:5 and Rosh Hashanah 2:8:1. The Babylonian Talmud reads them at Berakhot 48b:10, Bava Metzia 82a:7 and Bava Kamma 46b:5. Midrash Lekach Tov reads the chapter at Exodus 24:2:1, 24:3:1 and 24:17:1, and Aggadat Bereshit at 72:1 and 74:2.
The text, verse by verse
Each word shows the Hebrew, the English under it, how it sounds and its Strong’s number. A rule between verses marks where the Hebrew manuscripts end a paragraph.
The Blood of the Covenant
Ramban on Exodus 24:1
‘COME UP UNTO THE ETERNAL etc.’ “This section was told to Moses before the giving of the Ten Commandments, on the fourth day of Sivan.” This is Rashi’s language.
Read it in full at Sefaria · Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
They Saw God and Ate
Ramban on Exodus 24:10
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained: “They saw Him in a prophetic vision, this being similar to the verse: I saw the Eternal standing beside the altar. 529 Amos:1. — And there was under His feet the like of a paved work of sapphire stone.
Read it in full at Sefaria · Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Ramban on Exodus 24:11
AND TO ‘ATZILEI’ (THE NOBLES OF) THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. These are Nadab, and Abihu, and the elders mentioned above. 540 Verse. They are called atzilim [of the root atzal, to emanate] because the spirit of G-d emanated upon them. Similarly, I have called thee ‘mei’atzilehah’ 541 Isaiah:9.
Read it in full at Sefaria · Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Moses Enters the Cloud
Ramban on Exodus 24:12
‘COME UP TO ME INTO THE MOUNTAIN.’ This is the same command which He had said to him on the preceeding day [i.e., on the sixth of Sivan], Come up unto the Eternal; 551 Verse. and Moses alone shall come near unto the Eternal, 552 Verse.
Read it in full at Sefaria · Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Ramban on Exodus 24:14
‘TARRY YE HERE FOR US.’ The meaning of this is that when Moses parted from them with his minister, he commanded them that they should tarry there.
Read it in full at Sefaria · Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Hebrew words in this chapter
The 40 most used Hebrew words of the chapter, counted by lemma. The article, the object marker, the negatives and the common prepositions are left out.
| Word | Sense here | Uses | Strong’s |
|---|---|---|---|
| מֹשֶׁהMôsheh | Moses | 14 | H4872 |
| יְהֹוָהYᵉhôvâh | yahweh | 11 | H3068 |
| הַרhar | mountain | 9 | H2022 |
| עָלָהʻâlâh | come up | 8 | H5927 |
| יִשְׂרָאֵלYisrâʼêl | Israel | 7 | H3478 |
| אָמַרʼâmar | he said | 6 | H559 |
| עַםʻam | people | 5 | H5971 |
| דָּבָרdâbâr | word | 5 | H1697 |
| דָּםdâm | blood | 4 | H1818 |
| עָנָןʻânân | cloud | 4 | H6051 |
| אַהֲרוֹןʼAhărôwn | Aaron | 3 | H175 |
| זָקֵןzâqên | elder | 3 | H2205 |
| נָגַשׁnâgash | and he will draw near | 3 | H5066 |
| בֵּןbên | people of | 3 | H1121 |
| לָקַחlâqach | and he took | 3 | H3947 |
| אֱלֹהִיםʼĕlôhîym | God | 3 | H430 |
| יוֹםyôwm | day | 3 | H3117 |
| נָדָבNâdâb | Nadab | 2 | H5070 |
| אֲבִיהוּאʼĂbîyhûwʼ | Abihu | 2 | H30 |
| שִׁבְעִיםshibʻîym | seventy | 2 | H7657 |
| Word | Sense here | Uses | Strong’s |
|---|---|---|---|
| בּוֹאbôwʼ | and he went | 2 | H935 |
| דָבַרdâbar | he has spoken | 2 | H1696 |
| עָשָׂהʻâsâh | we will do | 2 | H6213 |
| כָּתַבkâthab | and he wrote | 2 | H3789 |
| מִזְבֵּחַmizbêach | altar | 2 | H4196 |
| שְׁנַיִםshᵉnayim | two | 2 | H8147 |
| עָשָׂרʻâsâr | ten | 2 | H6240 |
| שָׁלַחshâlach | and he sent | 2 | H7971 |
| חֵצִיchêtsîy | half | 2 | H2677 |
| זָרַקzâraq | he sprinkled | 2 | H2236 |
| בְּרִיתbᵉrîyth | covenant | 2 | H1285 |
| קָרָאqârâʼ | and he read aloud | 2 | H7121 |
| הִנֵּהhinnêh | here | 2 | H2009 |
| אָכַלʼâkal | and they ate | 2 | H398 |
| כָּסָהkâçâh | to cover | 2 | H3680 |
| כָּבוֹדkâbôwd | glory | 2 | H3519 |
| תָּוֶךְtâvek | midst | 2 | H8432 |
| אַרְבָּעִיםʼarbâʻîym | forty | 2 | H705 |
| שָׁחָהshâchâh | to bow | 1 | H7812 |
| רָחוֹקrâchôwq | from a distance | 1 | H7350 |
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The Hebrew text
STEP Bible, the tagged Hebrew text and its English glosses and James Strong, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.
In Jewish life
Rashi, Rashi on Exodus 24:1 to 24:18, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Exodus 24:1:1, 24:2:1, 24:5:1, 24:9:1, 24:15:1 and 24:17:1, cited by reference, CC-BY-NC; Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 88a, Zevachim 115b, Keritot 9a and Yoma 4b, as Rashi cites them, and Berakhot 48b:10, cited by reference; Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Bachodesh 2:25 and 3:2 and Tractate Pischa 16:25, cited by reference; Avot DeRabbi Natan, 1:1, 1:8, 20:1 and 36:3, and Recension B 1:2, 25:7 and 46:16, cited by reference; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/exodus/24.json, fetched 2026-09-19 and MannaFest, the commentators and their dates, src/app/featured/the-jewish-writings/page.tsx.
The rabbinic texts
Ramban, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976 and Sefaria, texts and citation data.