² God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am ^(A)the Lord; ³ and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as ^[a](B)God Almighty, but by ^(C)My name, ^[b]Lord, I did not make Myself known to them. ⁴ I also established ^(D)My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the ^[c]land in which they lived as strangers. ⁵ Furthermore I have ^(E)heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶ Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘^(F)I am the Lord, and ^(G)I will bring you out from under the labors of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you from their bondage. I will also ^(H)redeem you with ^(I)an outstretched arm, and with great judgments. ⁷ Then I will take you ^[d](J)as My people, and ^(K)I will be ^[e]your God; and ^(L)you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the labors of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you to the land which ^(M)I ^[f]swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and ^(N)I will give it to you as a possession; ^(O)I am the Lord.’” ⁹ So Moses said this to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on ^(P)account of their ^[g]despondency and cruel bondage.

¹⁰ Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹ “^(Q)Go, ^[h]tell Pharaoh king of Egypt ^[i]to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.” ¹² But Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; ^(R)how then will Pharaoh listen to me, as I am ^[j](S)unskilled in speech?” ¹³ Nevertheless, the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave them a command concerning the sons of Israel and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

^27 (A)Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the ^(B)mountain of God and kissed him. ^28 (C)Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and ^(D)all the signs that He had commanded him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and ^(E)assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel; ³⁰ and ^(F)Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the ^(G)signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ So ^(H)the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord ^[a](I)was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, ^(J)they bowed low and worshiped.

Israel’s Labor Increased

5 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “^(K)This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘^(L)Let My people go so that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” ² But Pharaoh said, “^(M)Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, ^(N)I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “^(O)The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, otherwise He will strike us with plague or with the sword.” ⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you let the people neglect their ^[b]work? Get back to your ^(P)labors!” ⁵ Again Pharaoh said, “Look, ^(Q)the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!” ⁶ So the same day Pharaoh commanded ^(R)the taskmasters over the people and their ^(S)foremen, saying, ⁷ “You are no longer to give the people straw to make bricks as previously; have them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But you shall impose on them the quota of bricks which they were making before; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are ^(T)lazy, for that reason they cry ^[c]out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let the labor be heavier on the men, and have them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”

¹⁰ So ^(U)the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not going to give you any straw. ¹¹ You go, get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it; but none of your labor will be reduced.’” ¹² So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Complete your ^[d]work quota, ^[e]your daily amount, just as when ^[f]you had straw.” ¹⁴ Moreover, ^(V)the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, ^(W)were beaten ^[g]and asked, “Why have you not completed your required task of making bricks either yesterday or today, as before?”

¹⁵ Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants? ¹⁶ There is no straw given to your servants, yet they keep saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are being beaten; but it is the fault of your own people.” ¹⁷ But he said, “You are ^(X)lazy, very lazy; for that reason you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ So go now and work; for you will be given no straw, but you must deliver the quota of bricks.” ¹⁹ The foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, ^[h]since they were told, “You must not reduce ^[i]your daily amount of bricks.” ²⁰ When they left Pharaoh’s presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were ^[j]waiting for them. ²¹ And ^(Y)they said to them, “^(Z)May the Lord look upon you and judge you, because you have ^(AA)made ^[k]us repulsive in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!”

²² Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “^(AB)Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me? ²³ Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, ^(AC)and You have not rescued Your people at all.”

God Promises Action

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for ^[l](AD)under compulsion he will let them go, and ^[m]under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”

The Crucifixion

^22 (A)Then they *brought Him to the place ^(B)Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. ²³ And they tried to give Him ^(C)wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. ²⁴ And they *crucified Him, and *^(D)divided up His garments among themselves, casting ^[a]lots for them to decide ^[b]what each man would take. ²⁵ Now it was the ^[c](E)third hour ^[d]when they crucified Him. ²⁶ The inscription of the charge against Him ^[e]read, “^(F)THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁷ And they *crucified two ^[f]rebels with Him, one on His right and one on His left.^{[g] 29} Those passing by were ^[h]hurling abuse at Him, ^(G)shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who are going to ^(H)destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰ save Yourself by coming down from the cross!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “^(I)He saved others; ^[i]He cannot save Himself! ³² Let this Christ, ^(J)the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” ^(K)Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

^33 (L)When the ^[j](M)sixth hour came, darkness ^[k]fell over the whole land until the ^[l](N)ninth hour. ³⁴ At the ^[m](O)ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “^(P)Eloi, Eloi, lema sabaktanei?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ³⁵ And when some of the bystanders heard Him, they began saying, “Look! He is calling for Elijah!” ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “^[n]Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.” ^37 (Q)But Jesus let out a loud cry, and ^[o]died. ^38 (R)And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ^39 (S)And when the centurion, who was standing ^[p]right in front of Him, saw that He ^[q]died in this way, he said, “Truly this man was ^[r]the Son of God!”

Simon Carries the Cross

^26 (A)And when they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of ^(B)Cyrene, as he was coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷ Now following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were ^[a](C)mourning and grieving for Him. ²⁸ But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For behold, days are coming when they will say, ‘^(D)Blessed are those who cannot bear, and the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not nursed.’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to ^(E)say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ ³¹ For if they do these things ^[b]when the tree is green, what will happen ^[c]when it is dry?”

^32 (F)Now two others, who were criminals, were also being led away to be put to death with Him.

The Crucifixion

^33 (G)And when they came to the place called ^[d]The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. ³⁴ [^[e]But Jesus was saying, “^(H)Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”] ^(I)And they cast lots, dividing His garments among themselves. ³⁵ And the people stood by, watching. And even the ^(J)rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; ^(K)let Him save Himself if this is the ^[f]Christ of God, His Chosen One.” ³⁶ The soldiers also ridiculed Him, coming up to Him, ^(L)offering Him sour wine, ³⁷ and saying, “^(M)If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” ³⁸ Now there was also an inscription above Him, “^(N)THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

^39 (O)One of the criminals who were hanged there was ^[g]hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the ^[h]Christ? ^(P)Save Yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other responded, and rebuking him, said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving ^[i]what we deserve for our crimes; but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” ⁴³ And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in ^(Q)Paradise.”

^44 (R)It was now about ^[j](S)the sixth hour, and darkness came over the entire land until ^[k]the ninth hour, ^45 [l]because the sun stopped shining; and ^(T)the veil of the temple was torn ^[m]in two. ⁴⁶ And Jesus, ^(U)crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, ^(V)into Your hands I entrust My spirit.” And having said this, He ^[n]died. ^47 (W)Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began ^(X)praising God, saying, “This man was in fact ^[o]innocent.” ⁴⁸ And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, after watching what had happened, began to return home, ^[p](Y)beating their chests. ^49 (Z)And all His acquaintances and ^(AA)the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.