Consecration of the Firstborn

13 The Lord said to Moses, ^2 (A)“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

³ Then Moses said to the people, ^(B)“Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ^(C)for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. ^(D)No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴ Today, in the month of ^(E)Abib, you are going out. ⁵ And when the Lord brings you into ^(F)the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which ^(G)he swore to your fathers to give you, a land ^(H)flowing with milk and honey, ^(I)you shall keep this service in this month. ^6 (J)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ^8 (K)You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ And it shall ^(L)be to you as a sign on your hand and as ^(M)a memorial ^(N)between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ^10 (O)You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹ “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, ^(P)as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ^12 (Q)you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's. ^13 (R)Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every ^(S)firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ^14 (T)And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ^(U)‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of ^(V)slavery. ¹⁵ For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the ^(W)Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but ^(X)all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ^16 (Y)It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for ^(Z)by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did ^(AA)not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people ^(AB)change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ But God ^(AC)led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. ¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph^[a] had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, ^(AD)“God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” ²⁰ And ^(AE)they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ And ^(AF)the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. ²² The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Crossing the Red Sea

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to ^(AG)turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between ^(AH)Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ ⁴ And ^(AI)I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will ^(AJ)get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, ^(AK)and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the ^(AL)mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” ⁶ So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, ⁷ and took ^(AM)six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. ⁸ And ^(AN)the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while ^(AO)the people of Israel were going out defiantly. ⁹ The ^(AP)Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them ^(AQ)encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel ^(AR)cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ They ^(AS)said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Is not this what ^(AT)we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” ¹³ And Moses said to the people, ^(AU)“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For ^(AV)the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. ^14 (AW)The Lord will fight for you, and you have only ^(AX)to be silent.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. ^16 (AY)Lift up your staff, and ^(AZ)stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ And ^(BA)I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and ^(BB)I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸ And the Egyptians ^(BC)shall know that I am the Lord, ^(BD)when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

^19 (BE)Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night^[b] without one coming near the other all night.

²¹ Then Moses ^(BF)stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by ^(BG)a strong east wind all night and ^(BH)made the sea dry land, and the waters were ^(BI)divided. ²² And ^(BJ)the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being ^(BK)a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³ The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. ²⁴ And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, ²⁵ clogging^[c] their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the ^(BL)Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(BM)“Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” ^27 (BN)So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea ^(BO)returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord ^(BP)threw^[d] the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. ²⁸ The ^(BQ)waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, ^(BR)not one of them remained. ²⁹ But the ^(BS)people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰ Thus the Lord ^(BT)saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ^31 (BU)Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they ^(BV)believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

The Rich Young Man

^16 (A)And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to ^(B)have ^(C)eternal life?” ¹⁷ And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. ^(D)If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, ^(E)“You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother, and, ^(F)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁰ The young man said to him, ^(G)“All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you would be ^(H)perfect, go, ^(I)sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have ^(J)treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ^22 (K)When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

²³ And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, ^(L)only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. ^24 (M)Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter ^(N)the kingdom of God.” ²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁶ But Jesus ^(O)looked at them and said, ^(P)“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ²⁷ Then Peter said in reply, “See, ^(Q)we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” ²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world,^{[a] (R)}when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me ^(S)will also sit on twelve thrones, ^(T)judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ^29 (U)And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold^[b] and will ^(V)inherit eternal life. ³⁰ But ^(W)many who are ^(X)first will be last, and the last first.