Introduction
The Israelites have tired of waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai, and have made themselves a golden calf for a god in place of the God of Moses. But Moses now has returned, bearing two stone tablets inscribed with a law for his people, and he is not pleased to see it has been broken already.
AS Joshua came down the mountain with Moses, carrying the stone tablets of the law, he feared that there was the noise of battle in the Israelite camp. “That” said Moses “is not the sound of battle. It is the sound of song.” And so it was, for the Israelites were dancing and singing and disporting themselves shamelessly around their witless golden calf.
God declared himself ready to destroy them all. Yet why trouble to rescue them, Moses replied boldly, only to destroy them? Would not the Egyptians feel they had won? He had his way, of course, but even so he broke the stone tables of the law he had brought from the mountain in full view of the people, melted down their abominable calf, and then cried ‘Who is on the Lord’s side?’ At that, the people divided into two armies, and fought; and Moses’s army routed those who had declared themselves against him, and against God.
See The Ten Commandments in Church English in our Bible (Authorised Version) section. The list of commandments is given twice in the Bible, once in Exodus 20:3-17, and once in Deuteronomy 5:7-21.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Calf. Down. Fear.
2 Destroy. Side. Two.
3 Song. Table. Themselves.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Subject and Object Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in two sentences, first as the subject of a verb, and then as the object of a verb. It doesn’t have to be the same verb: some verbs can’t be paired with an object (e.g. arrive, happen), so watch out for these.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Divide. 2. Cry. 3. Trouble. 4. Noise. 5. Camp. 6. Table. 7. God. 8. People. 9. Mountain.
Variations: 1.use your noun in the plural (e.g. cat → cats), if possible. 2.give one of your sentences a future aspect (e.g. will, going to). 3.write sentences using negatives such as not, neither, nobody and never.
Verb and Noun Find in Think and Speak
Many words can serve as noun or verb depending on context: see if you can prove this with the examples below. Nouns go well with words such as the/a, or his/her; verbs go well after I/you/he etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Reply. 2 Fight. 3 View. 4 People. 5 Camp. 6 Battle. 7 Break. 8 Win. 9 Table.
Variations: 1.if possible, use your noun in the plural, e.g. cat → cats. 2.use your verb in a past form, e.g. go → went. 3.use your noun in a sentence with one of these words: any, enough, fewer, less, no, some.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
pts (12+3)
opts. pates. patios. pats. pets. piteous. pities. pits. poets. pots. pouts. puts.
opiates. patois. pitas.
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