Israel Increases Greatly in Egypt

1 ^(A)These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵ All the descendants of Jacob were ^(B)seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶ Then ^(C)Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. ^7 (D)But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ^(E)who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Behold, ^(F)the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. ^10 (G)Come, ^(H)let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them ^(I)to afflict them with heavy ^(J)burdens. They built for Pharaoh ^(K)store cities, Pithom and ^(L)Raamses. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. ¹³ So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel ^(M)work as slaves ¹⁴ and ^(N)made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ¹⁶ “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives ^(O)feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” ¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” ^20 (P)So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God, ^(Q)he gave them families. ²² Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ^(R)“Every son that is born to the Hebrews^[a] you shall cast into ^(S)the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a ^(T)man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. ² The woman conceived and bore a son, and ^(U)when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. ³ When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes^[b] and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the ^(V)reeds by the river bank. ⁴ And ^(W)his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. ⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.” ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸ And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child's mother. ⁹ And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became ^(X)her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I ^(Y)drew him out of the water.”^[c]

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, ^(Z)when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their ^(AA)burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.^{[d] 12} He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he ^(AB)struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ When ^(AC)he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” ¹⁴ He answered, ^(AD)“Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” ¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But ^(AE)Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by ^(AF)a well.

¹⁶ Now the ^(AG)priest of Midian had seven daughters, and ^(AH)they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. ¹⁷ The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and ^(AI)watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came home to their father ^(AJ)Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” ¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and ^(AK)watered the flock.” ²⁰ He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may ^(AL)eat bread.” ²¹ And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter ^(AM)Zipporah. ²² She gave birth to a son, and he called his name ^(AN)Gershom, for he said, “I have been a ^(AO)sojourner^[e] in a foreign land.”

God Hears Israel's Groaning

^23 (AP)During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel ^(AQ)groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. ^(AR)Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. ²⁴ And ^(AS)God heard their groaning, and God ^(AT)remembered his covenant with ^(AU)Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ God ^(AV)saw the people of Israel—and God ^(AW)knew.

The Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the ^(AX)mountain of God. ^2 (AY)And ^(AZ)the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, ^(BA)God called to him ^(BB)out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; ^(BC)take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ And he said, ^(BD)“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for ^(BE)he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ Then the Lord said, ^(BF)“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their ^(BG)taskmasters. I know their sufferings, ⁸ and ^(BH)I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and ^(BI)to bring them up out of that land to a ^(BJ)good and broad land, a land ^(BK)flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(BL)the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ And now, behold, ^(BM)the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the ^(BN)oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ^10 (BO)Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, ^(BP)“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² He said, ^(BQ)“But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, ^(BR)you shall serve God on this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”^[f] And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ^(BS)‘I am has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord,^[g] the ^(BT)God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is ^(BU)my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. ¹⁶ Go and ^(BV)gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, ^(BW)“I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, ¹⁷ and I promise that ^(BX)I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land ^(BY)flowing with milk and honey.”’ ¹⁸ And ^(BZ)they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel ^(CA)shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has ^(CB)met with us; and now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt ^(CC)will not let you go unless compelled ^(CD)by a mighty hand.^{[h] 20} So ^(CE)I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with ^(CF)all the wonders that I will do in it; ^(CG)after that he will let you go. ²¹ And ^(CH)I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, ²² but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for ^(CI)silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So ^(CJ)you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Moses Given Powerful Signs

4 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, ^(CK)“A staff.” ³ And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— ⁵ “that they may ^(CL)believe that the Lord, ^(CM)the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” ⁶ Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.”^[i] And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was ^(CN)leprous^[j] like snow. ⁷ Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, ^(CO)it was restored like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. ⁹ If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile ^(CP)will become blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but ^(CQ)I am slow of speech and of tongue.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore go, and ^(CR)I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” ¹³ But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” ¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, ^(CS)he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ^15 (CT)You shall speak to him and ^(CU)put the words in his mouth, and ^(CV)I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. ^16 (CW)He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and ^(CX)you shall be as God to him. ¹⁷ And take in your hand ^(CY)this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ Moses went back to ^(CZ)Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for ^(DA)all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took ^(DB)his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took ^(DC)the staff of God in his hand.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the ^(DD)miracles that I have put in your power. But ^(DE)I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, ^(DF)Israel is my ^(DG)firstborn son, ²³ and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I ^(DH)will kill your firstborn son.’”

²⁴ At a lodging place on the way ^(DI)the Lord met him and ^(DJ)sought to put him to death. ²⁵ Then ^(DK)Zipporah took a ^(DL)flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses'^[k] feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” ²⁶ So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

²⁷ The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness ^(DM)to meet Moses.” So he went and met him at the ^(DN)mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸ And Moses ^(DO)told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all ^(DP)the signs that he had commanded him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron ^(DQ)went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. ^30 (DR)Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ And the people ^(DS)believed; and when they heard that the Lord had ^(DT)visited the people of Israel and that he had ^(DU)seen their affliction, ^(DV)they bowed their heads and worshiped.

Teaching About Divorce

19 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from ^(A)Galilee and ^(B)entered ^(C)the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ² And ^(D)large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

³ And Pharisees came up to him and ^(E)tested him by asking, ^(F)“Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” ⁴ He answered, ^(G)“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ^(H)‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^(I)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ^(J)What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” ⁷ They said to him, ^(K)“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ⁸ He said to them, “Because of your ^(L)hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9 (M)And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”^[a]

¹⁰ The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹ But he said to them, ^(N)“Not everyone can receive this saying, but only ^(O)those to ^(P)whom it is given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs ^(Q)for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Let the Children Come to Me

^13 (R)Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples ^(S)rebuked the people, ¹⁴ but Jesus said, ^(T)“Let the little children ^(U)come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” ¹⁵ And he laid his hands on them and went away.

The Rich Young Man

^16 (V)And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to ^(W)have ^(X)eternal life?” ¹⁷ And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. ^(Y)If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, ^(Z)“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, ^(AA)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁰ The young man said to him, ^(AB)“All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you would be ^(AC)perfect, go, ^(AD)sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have ^(AE)treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ^22 (AF)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, ^(AG)only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. ^24 (AH)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 ^(AI)the kingdom of God.” ²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁶ But Jesus ^(AJ)looked at them and said, ^(AK)“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ²⁷ Then Peter said in reply, “See, ^(AL)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,^{[b] (AM)}when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me ^(AN)will also sit on twelve thrones, ^(AO)judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ^29 (AP)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^[c] and will ^(AQ)inherit eternal life. ³⁰ But ^(AR)many who are ^(AS)first will be last, and the last first.

How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love

To the choirmaster. Of David, the ^(A)servant of the Lord.