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Exodus 1

The People of Israel Suffer

    ⁸Many years later a new king came to power. He did not know what Joseph had done for Egypt, ⁹and he told the Egyptians:

   There are too many of those Israelites in our country, and they are becoming more powerful than we are. ¹⁰If we don't outsmart them, their families will keep growing larger. And if our country goes to war, they could easily fight on the side of our enemies and escape from Egypt.

    ¹¹The Egyptians put slave bosses in charge of the people of Israel and tried to wear them down with hard work. Those bosses forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses, ^[b] where the king ^[c] could store his supplies. ¹²But even though the Israelites were mistreated, their families grew larger, and they took over more land. Because of this, the Egyptians hated them worse than before ¹³and made them work so hard ¹⁴that their lives were miserable. The Egyptians were cruel to the people of Israel and forced them to make bricks and to mix mortar and to work in the fields. ¹⁵Finally, the king called in Shiphrah and Puah, the two women who helped the Hebrew ^[d] mothers when they gave birth. ¹⁶He told them, " If a Hebrew woman gives birth to a girl, let the child live. If the baby is a boy, kill him!" ¹⁷But the two women were faithful to God and did not kill the boys, even though the king had told them to. ¹⁸The king called them in again and asked, " Why are you letting those baby boys live?"

    ¹⁹They answered, " Hebrew women have their babies much quicker than Egyptian women. By the time we arrive, their babies are already born." ^20-21God was good to the two women because they truly respected him, and he blessed them with children of their own.

   The Hebrews kept increasing ²²until finally, the king gave a command to everyone in the nation, " As soon as a Hebrew boy is born, throw him into the Nile River! But you can let the girls live."

Exodus 2

Moses Is Born

    ⁸" Yes," the king's daughter answered.

   So the girl brought the baby's mother, ⁹and the king's daughter told her, " Take care of this child, and I will pay you."

   The baby's mother carried him home and took care of him. ¹⁰And when he was old enough, she took him to the king's daughter, who adopted him. She named him Moses ^[g] because she said, " I pulled him out of the water."

Moses Escapes from Egypt

    ¹³When Moses went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting. So he went to the man who had started the fight and asked, " Why are you beating up one of your own people?"

    ¹⁴The man answered, " Who put you in charge of us and made you our judge? Are you planning to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian?"

   This frightened Moses because he was sure that people must have found out what had happened. ¹⁵When the king ^[h] heard what Moses had done, the king wanted to kill him. But Moses escaped and went to the land of Midian. One day, Moses was sitting there by a well, ¹⁶when the seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, ^[i] came up to water their father's sheep and goats. ¹⁷Some shepherds tried to chase them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their animals. ¹⁸When Jethro's daughters returned home, their father asked, " Why have you come back so early today?" ¹⁹They answered, " An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds, and he even watered our sheep and goats."

    ²⁰" Where is he?" Jethro asked. " Why did you leave him out there? Invite him to eat with us."

    ²¹Moses agreed to stay on with Jethro, who later let his daughter Zipporah marry Moses. ²²And when she had a son, Moses said, " I will name him Gershom, ^[j] since I am a foreigner in this country." ²³After the death of the king of Egypt, the Israelites still complained because they were forced to be slaves. They cried out for help, ²⁴and God heard their loud cries. He did not forget the promise he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ²⁵and because he knew what was happening to his people, he felt sorry for them.

Exodus 3

God Speaks to Moses

    ⁵God replied, " Don't come any closer. Take off your sandals--the ground where you are standing is holy. ⁶I am the God who was worshiped by your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

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

    ⁷The LORD said:

   I have seen how my people are suffering as slaves in Egypt, and I have heard them beg for my help because of the way they are being mistreated. I feel sorry for them, ⁸and I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians.

   I will bring my people out of Egypt into a country where there is good land, rich with milk and honey. I will give them the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. ⁹My people have begged for my help, and I have seen how cruel the Egyptians are to them. ¹⁰Now go to the king! I am sending you to lead my people out of his country.

    ¹¹But Moses said, " Who am I to go to the king and lead your people out of Egypt?"

    ¹²God replied, " I will be with you. And you will know that I am the one who sent you, when you worship me on this mountain after you have led my people out of Egypt." ^{[l] 13}Moses answered, " I will tell the people of Israel that the God their ancestors worshiped has sent me to them. But what should I say, if they ask me your name?"

    ^14-15God said to Moses:

   I am the eternal God. So tell them that the LORD, ^[m] whose name is " I Am," has sent you. This is my name forever, and it is the name that people must use from now on. ¹⁶Call together the leaders of Israel and tell them that the God who was worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to you. Tell them I have seen how terribly they are being treated in Egypt, ¹⁷and I promise to lead them out of their troubles. I will give them a land rich with milk and honey, where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.

    ¹⁸The leaders of Israel will listen to you. Then you must take them to the king of Egypt and say, " The LORD God of the Hebrews has appeared to us. Let us walk three days into the desert, where we can offer a sacrifice to him." ¹⁹But I know that the king of Egypt won't let you go unless something forces him to. ²⁰So I will use my mighty power to perform all kinds of miracles and strike down the Egyptians. Then the king will send you away.

    ²¹After I punish the Egyptians, they will be so afraid of you that they will give you anything you want. You are my people, and I will let you take many things with you when you leave the land of Egypt. ²²Every Israelite woman will go to her Egyptian neighbors or to any Egyptian woman living in her house. She will ask them for gold and silver jewelry and for their finest clothes. The Egyptians will give them to you, and you will put these fine things on your sons and daughters. You will carry all this away when you leave Egypt.

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Matthew 14

The Death of John the Baptist

(Mark 6.14-29; Luke 9.7-9)

    ⁶When Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests. She pleased Herod ⁷so much that he swore to give her whatever she wanted. ⁸But the girl's mother told her to say, "Here on a platter I want the head of John the Baptist!"

    ⁹The king was sorry for what he had said. But he did not want to break the promise he had made in front of his guests. So he ordered a guard ¹⁰to go to the prison and cut off John's head. ¹¹It was taken on a platter to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ¹²John's followers took his body and buried it. Then they told Jesus what had happened.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

(Mark 6.30-44; Luke 9.10-17; John 6.1-14)

    ¹⁶Jesus replied, "They don't have to leave. Why don't you give them something to eat?"

    ¹⁷But they said, "We have only five small loaves of bread ^[c] and two fish." ¹⁸Jesus asked his disciples to bring the food to him, ¹⁹and he told the crowd to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and handed it to his disciples, and they gave it to the people. ²⁰After everyone had eaten all they wanted, Jesus' disciples picked up twelve large baskets of leftovers.

    ²¹There were about five thousand men who ate, not counting the women and children.