Exodus 12:37 – 13:22

Exodus 12

³⁷ The Israelites set out from Rameses to Sukkoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides their families. ³⁸ A mixed group of non-Israelites also went up along with them, as well as a large amount of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ The Israelites baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, for it had not been leavened, because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay. They also had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ The amount of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. ⁴¹ At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the very day, all of the Lord’s divisions went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It was a night that the Lord kept vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is dedicated to the Lord. All the Israelites are to keep vigil throughout their generations.

Passover Restrictions

⁴³ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the regulation concerning the Passover: No foreigner may eat it. ⁴⁴ But any slave whom you have purchased may eat it if you circumcise him. ⁴⁵ A temporary resident or a hired servant may not eat it. ⁴⁶ It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Israel shall do this. ⁴⁸ If a resident alien among you wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, every male in his household must be circumcised. Then he may take part in it. He will be treated like a native-born of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. ⁴⁹ The same law will apply to the native-born and to the alien who resides among you.” ⁵⁰ So that is what all the Israelites did. They did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ That same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, lined up by their divisions.

Instructions for Remembering the Passover

Exodus 13

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Set apart all the firstborn for me, the firstborn of every mother ^[1] among the Israelites, both people and animals. The firstborn belongs to me.”

³ Then Moses said this to the people:

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by the way that goes to the land of the Philistines, although it was more direct, for God said, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God led the people by the way that goes through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. ^[5] The Israelites went up from the land of Egypt in battle formation.

¹⁹ Moses also took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. Joseph had said, “God will surely come to your aid. Then you must bring up my bones with you from Egypt.” ²⁰ They set out from Sukkoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on their way and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light. In this way they could travel by day and by night. ²² The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.

Exodus 12:1-36

Exodus 12

Instructions for the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

¹ The Lord told Moses and Aaron this in the land of Egypt: ^[1]

²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take lambs for yourselves according to your family size, and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²² You shall take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and paint the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you are to go out of the door of your house until morning. ²³ When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

²⁴ “You shall observe these instructions as a perpetual regulation for you and your descendants. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the Lord will give you just as he said he would, you shall observe this ceremony. ²⁶ So when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²⁷ you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. When he struck the Egyptians, he spared our houses.’”

The people bowed down and worshipped. ²⁸ The Israelites went and did all this. They did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

The Exodus

²⁹ At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, even all the firstborn of the livestock. ³⁰ During the night Pharaoh got up—he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians—and there was a loud outcry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not someone dead. ³¹ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron that night and said, “Get up, get away from my people! Both you and the Israelites, go, serve the Lord, as you have said! ³² Take also your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go! But also bless me!”

³³ The Egyptians urged the people to leave the land quickly, for the Egyptians said, “We are all going to die!” ³⁴ The Israelites took their dough before it was leavened. They carried their kneading bowls, which were wrapped in their clothing, on their shoulders. ³⁵ The Israelites did just as Moses had said, and they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ³⁶ The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let the Israelites have what they asked for. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.

Exodus 10 – 11

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

Exodus 10

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart unyielding, and his officials’ hearts too, so that I may perform these signs of mine in their midst, ² and so that you may tell your children and your grandchildren how harshly I dealt with Egypt and about my signs which I did among them. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

³ Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go so that they may serve me. ⁴ But if you refuse to let my people go, watch out, because tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. ⁵ They will cover the surface of the ground so that no one will be able to see the ground. The locusts will eat what little you have left after the hail. They will also eat every tree that you have growing in the field. ⁶ Your houses, your officials’ houses, and every Egyptian’s house will be filled with them, something neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, from the day that they settled in this land up to this day.” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷ Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve the Lord, their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”

⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But who exactly would be going?”

⁹ Moses said, “We will go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters. We will go with our flocks and herds, for we are celebrating a festival to the Lord.”

¹⁰ But he said to them, “May the Lord be with you if I would ever let you and your families go! I see you are determined to do evil. ¹¹ No! The men may go and serve the Lord, for that is what you have been asking for!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² So the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt so that locusts come up over the land and eat every plant in the land, everything left by the hail.”

¹³ Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow over the land all that day and all through the night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts came up over the entire land of Egypt and settled down in the entire territory of Egypt. There had never been such a large number of locusts before, and there would never be again. ¹⁵ They covered the surface of the ground so completely that the land was dark. They ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees—everything left after the hail. Nothing green was left on the trees or on the plants in the field throughout the entire land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ Now please forgive my sin once more, and plead to the Lord your God so that he may also remove this death from me.”

¹⁸ So Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. ¹⁹ The Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind. That wind lifted up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in the entire territory of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard, and he did not let the Israelites go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that can be felt.” ²² Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in the entire land of Egypt for three days. ²³ No one could see anyone else, and for three days none of them moved from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.

²⁴ Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord. Even your families may also go with you. But you must leave your flocks and herds behind.”

²⁵ But Moses said, “You must also let us take sacrifices with us and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. ²⁶ Our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof is to be left behind, for we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God. We will not know, however, what we will need to serve the Lord until we get there.”

²⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die!”

²⁹ Moses said, “Just as you have spoken: I will never see your face again.”

The Tenth Plague: The Death of the Firstborn

Exodus 11

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will certainly drive you completely out of here. ² Now tell the people that both the men and the women are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” ³ (The Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Even the man Moses was highly regarded in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh’s officials and the people.)

⁴ So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says. About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, ⁵ and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the hand mill, even all the firstborn of the livestock. ⁶ There will be a loud outcry in the entire land of Egypt, unlike anything that happened before or anything that will take place again. ⁷ But among all the Israelites, not a dog will bark ^[1] at a person or animal, so that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. ⁸ All these officials of yours will come and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, went out from Pharaoh.

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard, and he did not let the Israelites go out of his land.

Exodus 9

The Fifth Plague: Death of Livestock

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may serve me. ² But if you refuse to let them go and keep holding them back, ³ watch out, because the hand of the Lord will bring a very severe disease on your livestock which is in the field. It will be on the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. ⁴ But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians so that not one of the Israelites’ livestock will die.’” ⁵ The Lord appointed a set time by saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” ⁶ So the next day, that is what the Lord did, and all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but none of the livestock of the Israelites died. ⁷ Pharaoh checked and found out that not even one of the livestock of the Israelites had died. But Pharaoh’s heart was unyielding, and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a kiln, and have Moses toss it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹ It will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals in the entire land of Egypt.”

¹⁰ So they took soot from a kiln and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it toward the sky, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. ¹¹ The magicians could not stand in front of Moses because of the boils, since the boils were on the magicians and all the Egyptians. ¹² But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning. Present yourself to Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may serve me. ¹⁴ For at this time I will send all my plagues against you yourself, your servants, and your people, so that you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague so that you would have been wiped off the earth. ¹⁶ However, for this very reason, I caused you to stand: ^[1] so that I could show you my power, and that my name would be made known over the entire earth. ¹⁷ You still are acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go. ¹⁸ Watch out. At this time tomorrow I will rain down a very severe hailstorm, unlike any other in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹ Now give orders to bring your livestock and everything of yours that is in the open field into shelters. Every person and animal out in the open that is not brought inside will die when the hail falls down on them.”

²⁰ Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the Lord made their servants and livestock take refuge inside. ²¹ But those who did not take the word of the Lord to heart left their servants and livestock in the field.

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, and let there be hail in the entire land of Egypt: on the people, on the animals, and on every plant in the field throughout the land of Egypt.”

²³ Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail. Lightning also flashed down to the ground. The Lord rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ The hail, with lightning flashing through it, was very severe. Nothing like it had happened in the entire land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵ Throughout the entire land, the hail struck everything that was in the field, both people and animals. The hail also struck every plant in the field and shattered every tree in the field. ²⁶ But in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.

²⁷ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. He said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is the one who is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ²⁸ Plead to the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you do not have to stay here any longer.”

²⁹ Moses said to him, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will stop, and there will no longer be any hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. ³⁰ But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the Lord God.”

³¹ (The flax and the barley were destroyed, because the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom. ³² But the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)

³³ Moses went out from Pharaoh and from the city. He spread out his hands to the Lord. The thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the ground. ³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had stopped, he sinned again. He and his officials made their hearts unyielding. ^{[2] 35} Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

Exodus 8

The Second Plague: Frogs

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the Lord says: Let my people go so that they may serve me. ^{[1] 2} If you refuse to let them go, watch out. I will send a plague of frogs on your entire territory. ³ The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up and enter into your palace, into your bedroom, onto your bed, into your servants’ houses, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading troughs. ⁴ The frogs will come up on you, your people, and all your servants.”

⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, streams, and ponds, and bring frogs up onto the land of Egypt.’” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷ But the magicians did the same thing by their occult practices and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

⁸ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “I give you the honor of setting the time when I should plead for you, your servants, and your people so that the Lord will rid you and your houses of the frogs. They will remain only in the Nile.”

¹⁰ Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.”

Moses replied, “It will take place just as you have said, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹ The frogs will leave you and your houses, your servants, and your people. They will remain only in the Nile.”

¹² Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs, which he had brought upon Pharaoh. ¹³ The Lord did as Moses said: The frogs from the houses, courtyards, and fields died. ¹⁴ The people piled them up into heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he made his heart unyielding and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Lice

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: ‘Stretch out your staff, and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become lice ^[2] in the entire land of Egypt.’” ¹⁷ They did so. When Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the ground, there were lice on the people and animals. All the dust of the ground became lice in the entire land of Egypt. ¹⁸ The magicians tried to produce lice by their occult practices, but they could not. So there were lice on the people and on the animals. ¹⁹ The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The Fourth Plague: Swarms of Flies

²⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he is going out to the water. Tell him this is what the Lord says: Let my people go so that they may serve me. ²¹ For if you will not let my people go, watch out. I will send swarms of flies ^[3] on you, your servants, and your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. They will even cover the ground. ²² But on that day, I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people are living. There will not be swarms of flies in Goshen. In this way, you will know that I am the Lord on the earth. ²³ I will make a distinction ^[4] between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will take place.”

²⁴ So that is what the Lord did. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ houses. Throughout Egypt, the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

²⁵ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, offer sacrifices to your God in the land!”

²⁶ But Moses said, “It is not right to do that, because the sacrifices which we will offer to the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable to the Egyptians right in front of them, won’t they stone us? ²⁷ We will go on a three-day journey into the wilderness and offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, just as he tells us.”

²⁸ Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but do not go very far away. Plead for me.”

²⁹ Moses said, “All right. As soon as I leave you, I will plead to the Lord so that tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Only do not let Pharaoh act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

³⁰ Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded to the Lord. ³¹ The Lord did as Moses said, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Not a fly remained. ³² Pharaoh made his heart unyielding ^[5] this time also, and he did not let the people go.

Exodus 6:10 – 7:25

Exodus 6

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹¹ “Go, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the Israelites go from his land.”

¹² But Moses said in the Lord’s presence, “Look, the Israelites have not listened to me. Why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I am a poor speaker?” ^[1]

The Family Record of Moses and Aaron

¹³ The Lord again spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and about Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He commanded them to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: ^[2]

These were the clans of the Levites according to their family records.

These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites that had become clans.

²⁶ These were the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the Israelites from the land of Egypt according to their divisions.” ^{[4] 27} These were the same ones who spoke to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites out from Egypt. These were that same Moses and Aaron.

²⁸ On the day that the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ the Lord said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything that I tell you.”

³⁰ But Moses said in the Lord’s presence, “You see, I am a poor speaker. Why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

Moses and Aaron Appear Before Pharaoh

Exodus 7

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Look, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. ² You are to speak everything that I command you, and Aaron your brother is to speak to Pharaoh, so that he will let the Israelites go out from his land. ³ But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn. ^[5] I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my divisions, my people the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. ⁵ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand over Egypt, and I bring out the Israelites from their midst.”

⁶ This is what Moses and Aaron did. Just as the Lord commanded them, that is exactly what they did. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

⁸ The Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Give us a warning sign,’ then you are to tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’”

¹⁰ Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. ¹¹ But then Pharaoh also called for his wise men and sorcerers. Those magicians ^[6] of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. ¹² They each threw down their staffs, and those staffs became snakes. However, Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, ^[7] and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding. ^[8] He refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When he goes out by the water, stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him. Take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.

¹⁶ “You are to tell him: ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you. He says, “Let my people go so that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But look, until now you have not listened. ¹⁷ So this is what the Lord says: “In this way, you will know that I am the Lord.” Look! With the staff that is in my hand, I will strike the water in the Nile, and it will be turned to blood. ¹⁸ The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile.’”

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its streams, its ponds, and all the reservoirs—and they will become blood. There will be blood in the entire land of Egypt, even in containers made of wood and stone.’”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile. All the water in the Nile was turned to blood. ²¹ The fish that were in the river died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians were not able to drink water from the Nile. There was blood in the entire land of Egypt. ²² But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had told them. ²³ Pharaoh turned and went to his palace. He did not take to heart even this. ²⁴ All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they were not able to drink the water from the Nile. ²⁵ Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

Exodus 4:18 – 6:9

Exodus 4

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go and return to my own people, who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.”

Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for everyone who wanted to kill you is dead.”

²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his sons, placed them on a donkey, and set out to return to the land of Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure that you perform in the presence of Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put into your hand. However, I will make his heart hard, ^[1] and he will not let the people go. ²² You will then say to Pharaoh, ‘The Lord says: Israel is my son, my firstborn, ²³ and I have said to you, “Let my son go to serve me,” but you have refused to let him go. Watch out. I will kill your son, your firstborn.’”

²⁴ At a lodging place along the way, the Lord confronted him and sought to kill him. ^{[2] 25} Then Zipporah took a flint blade, cut off her son’s foreskin, and cast it at his feet. Then she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

²⁶ So the Lord left him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

Reunion of Moses and Aaron

²⁷ The Lord had said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.”

So he went, met Moses at the mountain of God, and kissed him. ²⁸ Moses told Aaron all the words that the Lord had sent him to speak and all the signs he had commanded him to perform. ²⁹ Moses and Aaron then went and gathered together every elder of the people of Israel. ³⁰ Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses and performed the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ The people believed. When they heard that the Lord had paid attention to the Israelites and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped.

Bricks Without Straw

Exodus 5

¹ Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Let my people go so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”

² Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should listen to his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I certainly will not let Israel go.”

³ They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to the Lord, our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or sword.”

⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get back to your forced labor!” ⁵ Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from doing their forced labor.”

⁶ That same day Pharaoh commanded the people’s taskmasters and overseers, ⁷ “Do not give the people straw for making bricks anymore. Let them go and gather their own straw. ⁸ But require them to make the same number of bricks as they made before. Do not reduce it. You see, they are lazy. That is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Make the work harder for the people so that they do their work and do not pay attention to lying words.”

¹⁰ So the people’s taskmasters and overseers went out and told the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹ Go, get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it. But there will be no reduction at all in your work load.’” ¹² So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ The taskmasters kept insisting, “Fulfill your daily quota just as you did when straw was provided!” ¹⁴ The overseers, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had placed over the Israelites, were beaten. The taskmasters demanded, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota yesterday and today, as you did previously?”

¹⁵ Then the Israelite overseers came and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you doing this to your servants? ¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, yet they tell us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

¹⁷ But he said, “Lazy! You are lazy! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Now go! Get to work! Straw will not be provided to you, but you will deliver the same quota of bricks!”

¹⁹ The Israelite overseers realized that they were in trouble when Pharaoh said, “You must not reduce anything from your daily number of bricks!”

²⁰ When they left Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting to meet them. ²¹ They said to Moses and Aaron, “May the Lord look at you and judge you, because you have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword into their hand to kill us.”

²² So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why did you send me? ²³ Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

Exodus 6

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. Because of a mighty hand ^[3] he will send them away, and because of a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”

God Promises Deliverance

² Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name, the Lord, I was not known to them. ^{[4] 4} I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they were residing as aliens. ⁵ I certainly have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶ “Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from being their slaves. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you to the land which I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”

⁹ Moses spoke these words to the Israelites, but they did not listen to Moses because of their broken spirit and because of the hard labor.

Exodus 3:1 – 4:17

Moses and the Burning Bush

Exodus 3

¹ Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, a priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but the bush was not burning up. ³ So he said, “I will go over and look at this amazing sight—to find out why the bush is not burning up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that Moses had gone over to take a look, God called to him from the middle of the bush and said, “Moses! Moses!”

Moses said, “I am here.”

⁵ The Lord said, “Do not come any closer. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ He then said, “I am the God of your fathers, ^[1] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ The Lord said, “I have certainly seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry for help because of their slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ Now indeed, the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me. Yes, I have seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ Come now, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹² So he said, “I will certainly be with you. This will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.”

¹³ But Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I say to them?”

¹⁴ So God replied to Moses, “I am who I am.” ^[2] He also said, “You will say this to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.”

¹⁵ God also told Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.’

¹⁶ “Go, gather the elders of Israel together and tell them: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have certainly been paying attention to you and to what they have done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ So I have said that I will bring you up from the misery in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁸ “They will listen to your voice. Then you and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God.’

¹⁹ “But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless he is forced to do so by a powerful hand. ²⁰ So I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in their midst. Afterward he will let you go.

²¹ “I will give this people favor with the Egyptians so that when you go, you will not go out empty-handed. ²² Each woman is to ask her neighbor, as well as any woman staying in her house, for articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. You are to put them on your sons and daughters. In this way you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Moses Is Given Miraculous Signs

Exodus 4

¹ But Moses responded, “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to my voice, but instead they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”

² So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

He said, “A staff.”

³ He said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, so he ran away from it.

⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and take it by the tail.”

He stretched out his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.

⁵ The Lord said, “This sign is being given to you so that the Israelites will believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶ The Lord also said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, ^[3] as white as snow.

⁷ Then the Lord said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

⁸ The Lord said, “If they do not believe you or do not respond to the first sign, they might believe because of the second sign. ⁹ If they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you are to take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry land.”

¹⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, either in the past or more recently or even since you started speaking to your servant, for my mouth and tongue are slow and clumsy.” ^[4]

¹¹ So the Lord said to him, “Who made a mouth for people? Or who makes someone mute or deaf, able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now go, and I will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you will speak.”

¹³ But he said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and the Lord said, “What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Look, he is already coming out to meet you. He will be very glad to see you. ¹⁵ You will speak to him and put the words into his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his, and I will teach you what you are to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you so that it will be as if he were your mouth, and you were God to him. ¹⁷ You will also take this staff in your hand, the one with which you will perform the signs.”

Exodus 1 – 2

The Israelites Oppressed

Exodus 1

¹ These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt. Each man and his household went with Jacob: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵ The total number of Jacob’s descendants was seventy people. (Joseph was already in Egypt.)

⁶ Then Joseph died, as did all his brothers and that entire generation. ⁷ However, the Israelites were fruitful, multiplied quickly, increased in number, and became very numerous. So the land was filled with them.

⁸ Then a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ He said to his people, “Look, the Israelites are more numerous and more powerful than we are. ¹⁰ Let’s come up with a wise plan to prevent them from increasing in number. Otherwise, if war breaks out, they would join with our enemies and fight against us. Then they would leave the land.” ¹¹ So the Egyptians placed taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. The Israelites built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number, and the more they spread out. The Egyptians were filled with dread because of them. ¹³ So the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites by forcing them to work very hard. ¹⁴ The Egyptians made the Israelites’ lives bitter with hard work, with brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians were merciless in the way they imposed work on the Israelites.

¹⁵ The king of Egypt also spoke to the Hebrew midwives. One of them was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. ¹⁶ He said, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, while they are still on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a son, you are to kill him, but if you see that it is a daughter, let her live.” ¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God, so they did not do what the king of Egypt told them to do, but they let the boys live.

¹⁸ The king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why did you do this and let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are vigorous, so they give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

²⁰ So God treated the midwives well. The people also increased in number and became very numerous. ²¹ Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. ²² Pharaoh, however, commanded all his people, “Every son who is born you shall throw into the Nile, but every daughter you shall let live.”

The Birth of Moses

Exodus 2

¹ Now a man from the house of Levi went and took a Levite woman as a wife. ² The woman became pregnant and bore a son. When she saw that he was a special ^[1] child, she hid him for three months. ³ When she was no longer able to hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it in the reeds along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the bank of the Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant girl to get it. ⁶ She opened it and saw the child. It was a boy, and he was crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”

⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a wet nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes, go.”

So the young woman went and called the child’s mother to come. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you for doing it.”

So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, with the explanation, “Because I drew him up out of the water.” ^[2]

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ After some time, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² After he looked this way and that, and he saw that no one was there, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³ The next day when he went out, he came upon two Hebrew men who were fighting. He said to the one in the wrong, “Why were you striking your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Are you planning to kill me just as you killed the Egyptian?”

Moses was afraid and thought, “What I have done has definitely become known.” ¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he sought to kill Moses. Moses, however, fled from Pharaoh’s presence and went to live in the land of Midian. There he sat down by a well.

¹⁶ Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and started drawing water. They filled the troughs to water their father’s flock, ¹⁷ but some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses, however, stood up and helped them. He then watered their flock. ¹⁸ When the daughters came to Reuel, their father, he said, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ Reuel said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why have you left the man there? Invite him to have something to eat.”

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man. The man gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses as a wife. ²² She gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, for he said, “I have become an alien ^[3] living in a foreign land.”

God Hears Israel’s Groaning

²³ After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their slavery. They cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. ²⁴ So God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ God saw the people of Israel, and God watched over them.

Acts 12:1-24

Acts 12

An Angel Frees Peter

¹ At about that time, King Herod ^[1] laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church, in order to mistreat them. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. ³ When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter during the days of Unleavened Bread.

⁴ After arresting Peter, Herod put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. Herod intended to bring him before the people for trial after the Passover. ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church earnestly offered up prayer to God for him.

⁶ The very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains, while sentries were in front of the door, guarding the prison.

⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood near him, and a light shone in the cell. The angel woke Peter up by striking him on the side, saying, “Quick, get up!” The chains fell from his wrists.

⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” So he did so. Then the angel told him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” ⁹ Peter went out, following the angel, but he did not realize that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed through the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city. It opened all by itself for them. They went outside, walked down one street, and immediately the angel left him.

¹¹ When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹² When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who is also called Mark. Many had gathered there and were praying. ¹³ When Peter knocked at the entrance gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ She recognized Peter’s voice and was so overjoyed, she did not open the gate. Instead she ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

¹⁵ They told her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept on insisting it was so, and they started saying, “It’s his angel.”

¹⁶ Meanwhile, Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ Peter motioned to them with his hand to be silent and described to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. He said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he left and went on to another place.

¹⁸ At daybreak, there was no small commotion among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ After Herod searched for him and did not find him, he questioned the guards and ordered that they be executed.

Herod’s Death

Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. ²⁰ Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They joined together and approached him after they had won over Blastus, the king’s personal assistant. They asked for peace because their country depended on the king’s country for food.

²¹ On the appointed day Herod, dressed in his royal robes and seated on his throne, delivered a public address to them. ²² The crowd shouted, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³ Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give the glory to God. He was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴ But the word of God continued to grow and increase.

Acts 11:19-30

Acts 11

The Church in Antioch

¹⁹ Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that took place at the time of Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰ But there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene who came to Antioch and also began to speak to the Greeks, preaching the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

²² A report about this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go on to ^[1] Antioch. ²³ When he arrived and saw God’s grace, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts. ²⁴ He was a good man who was full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a large number of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

The Church in Antioch Sends Relief to Jerusalem

²⁷ In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated by the Spirit that there was going to be a severe famine all over the known world. This took place during the time of Claudius. ²⁹ Each of the disciples, according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers ^[2] who lived in Judea. ³⁰ They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.