Exodus 13-16

Amplified Bible

Consecration of the Firstborn

13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Sanctify to Me [that is, set apart for My purpose] every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of animal; it is Mine.”

³ Moses said to the people, “Remember [solemnly observe and commemorate] this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage and slavery; for by a strong and powerful hand the Lord brought you out of this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten. ⁴ On this day in the month Abib, you are about to go onward. ⁵ And it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land [of abundance] ^[a]flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep and observe this rite (service) in this month. ⁶ For 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 throughout the seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, nor shall there be leaven within the borders of your territory. ⁸ You shall explain this to your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ It shall serve as a sign to you on your hand (arm), and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the instruction (law) of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a strong and powerful hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at this time from year to year.

¹¹ “Now it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, ¹² you shall set apart and dedicate to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock shall be the Lord’s. ¹³ Every firstborn of a ^[b]donkey you shall redeem by [substituting] a lamb [as a sacrifice for it], but if you do not [wish to] redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every firstborn among your sons you shall redeem [that is, “buy back” from God with a suitable sacrifice]. ¹⁴ And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘With a strong and powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage and slavery. ¹⁵ For it happened, when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, that the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animal. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord all the males, the first [to be born] of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ So it shall serve as a sign and a reminder on your [left] hand (arm) and as ^[c]frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong and powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

God Leads the People

¹⁷ So it happened, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearer; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war [that is, that there will be war], and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the ^[d]Red Sea; the sons of Israel went up in battle array (orderly ranks, marching formation) out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had solemnly ordered (placed under an oath) the Israelites, saying, “God will assuredly take care of you, and you must carry my bones away from here with you.”^{(A) 20} They journeyed from Succoth [in Goshen] and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ The [presence of the] Lord was going before them by day in a pillar (column) of cloud to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they could travel by day and by night. ²² He did not withdraw the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from going before the people.

Pharaoh in Pursuit

14 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ ⁴ I will harden (make stubborn, defiant) Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will be glorified and honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians shall know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this that we have done? We have let Israel go from serving us!” ⁶ So Pharaoh harnessed horses to his war-chariots [for battle] and took his ^[e]army with him; ⁷ and he took six hundred chosen war-chariots, and all the other war-chariots of Egypt with ^[f]fighting charioteers over all of them. ⁸ The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, as they were leaving confidently and defiantly.^{(B) 9} The Egyptians chased them with all the horses and war-chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them as they camped by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were very frightened; so the Israelites cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this that you have done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians [as slaves] than to die in the wilderness.”

The Sea Is Divided

¹³ Then Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid! Take your stand [be firm and confident and undismayed] and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for those Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you while you [only need to] keep silent and remain calm.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to move forward [toward the sea]. ¹⁶ As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the sons of Israel may go through the middle of the sea on dry land. ¹⁷ As for Me, hear this: I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in [the sea] after them; and I will be glorified and honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and his war-chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁸ And the Egyptians shall know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that I am the Lord, when I am glorified and honored through Pharaoh, through his war-chariots and his charioteers.”

¹⁹ The ^[g]angel of God, who had been going in front of the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. The pillar of the cloud moved from in front and stood behind them. ²⁰ So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. It was a cloud along with darkness [even by day to the Egyptians], but it gave light by night [to the Israelites]; so one [army] did not come near the other all night.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all that night and turned the seabed into dry land, and the waters were divided. ²² The Israelites went into the middle of the sea on dry land, and the waters formed a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³ Then the Egyptians pursued them into the middle of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his war-chariots and his charioteers. ²⁴ So it happened at the early morning watch [before dawn], that the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and put them in a state of confusion. ²⁵ He made their chariot wheels hard to turn, and the chariots difficult to drive; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, on their war-chariots and their charioteers.” ²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal flow at sunrise; and the Egyptians retreated right into it [being met by the returning water]; so the Lord overthrew the Egyptians and tossed them into the midst of the sea. ²⁸ The waters returned and covered the chariots and the charioteers, and all the army of Pharaoh that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them survived. ²⁹ But the Israelites walked on dry land in the middle of the sea, and the waters formed a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰ The Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians [lying] dead on the ^[h]seashore. ³¹ When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, they feared the Lord [with reverence and awe-filled respect], and they believed in the Lord, and in His servant Moses.

The Song of Moses and Israel

15 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this ^[i]song to the Lord, singing,

¹⁹ For the horses of Pharaoh went with his war-chariots and his charioteers into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them, but the sons of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.

²⁰ Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron [and Moses], took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her with timbrels and dancing.^{(C) 21} Miriam answered them,

The Lord Provides Water

²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went into the Wilderness of Shur; they went [a distance of] three days (about thirty-three miles) in the wilderness and found no water. ²³ Then they came to Marah, but they could not drink its waters because they were ^[l]bitter; therefore it was named Marah (bitter). ²⁴ The people [grew discontented and] grumbled at Moses, saying, “What are we going to drink?” ²⁵ Then he cried to the Lord [for help], and the Lord showed him a tree, [a branch of] which he threw into the waters, and the waters became sweet.

There the Lord made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there ^[m]He tested them, ²⁶ saying, “If you will diligently listen and pay attention to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and listen to His commandments, and keep [foremost in your thoughts and actively obey] all His precepts and statutes, then I will not put on you any of the diseases which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am the ^[n]Lord who heals you.”

²⁷ Then the children of Israel came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

The Lord Provides Manna

16 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of Israel came to the Wilderness of ^[o]Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left the land of Egypt. ² The whole congregation of the Israelites [grew discontented and] murmured and rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³ and the Israelites said to them, “^[p]Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will cause bread to rain from heaven for you; the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may test them [to determine] whether or not they will walk [obediently] in My instruction (law). ⁵ And it shall be that on the sixth day, they shall prepare to bring in twice as much as they gather daily [so that they will not need to gather on the seventh day].” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all Israel, “At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your murmurings against the Lord. What are we, that you murmur and rebel against us?”

The Lord Provides Meat

⁸ Moses said, “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning [enough] bread to be fully satisfied, because the Lord has heard your murmurings against Him; for what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of Israel, ‘Approach the Lord, because He has heard your murmurings.’” ¹⁰ So it happened that as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory and brilliance of the Lord appeared in the cloud! ¹¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites; speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ So in the evening the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a blanket of dew around the camp. ¹⁴ When the layer of dew evaporated, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine, flake-like thing, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “^[q]What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.^{(D) 16} This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather as much of it as he needs. Take an ^[r]omer for each person, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷ The Israelites did so, and some gathered much [of it] and some [only a] little. ¹⁸ When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered a large amount had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered according to his need (family size). ¹⁹ Moses said, “Let none of it be left [overnight] until [the next] morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses, and some left a supply of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul and rotten; and Moses was angry with them. ²¹ So they gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed, because when the sun was hot it melted.

The Sabbath Observed

²² Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each person; and all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses. ²³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord’; bake and boil what you will bake and boil [today], and all that remains left over put aside for yourselves to keep until morning.” ²⁴ They put it aside until morning, as Moses told them, and it did not become foul nor was it wormy. ²⁵ Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶ Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none [in the field].”

²⁷ Now on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you [people] refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions (laws)? ²⁹ See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you the bread for two days on the sixth day. Let every man stay in his place; no man is to leave his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The house of Israel called the bread manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like flat pastry (wafers) made with honey. ³² Then Moses said, “This is the word which the Lord commands, ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” ³³ So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron [eventually] placed it in the presence of the ^[s]Testimony, to be kept.^{(E) 35} The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they reached an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ (Now an ^[t]omer is the tenth of an ^[u]ephah.)