⁴ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,^(A) and he will pursue them.^(B) But I will gain glory^(C) for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”^(D) So the Israelites did this.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled,^(E) Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds^(F) about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” ⁶ So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. ⁷ He took six hundred of the best chariots,^(G) along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. ⁸ The Lord hardened the heart^(H) of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.^{(I) 9} The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses^(J) and chariots, horsemen^[a] and troops^(K)—pursued the Israelites and overtook^(L) them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.^(M)

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried^(N) out to the Lord. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?^(O) What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”^(P)

¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid.^(Q) Stand firm and you will see^(R) the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see^(S) again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight^(T) for you; you need only to be still.”^(U)

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?^(V) Tell the Israelites to move on. ¹⁶ Raise your staff^(W) and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water^(X) so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ I will harden the hearts^(Y) of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them.^(Z) And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁸ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord^(AA) when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

¹⁹ Then the angel of God,^(AB) who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud^(AC) also moved from in front and stood behind^(AD) them, ²⁰ coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness^(AE) to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

²⁷ The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?” ²⁸ Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ ²⁹ So we cooked my son and ate^(A) him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.”

³⁰ When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore^(B) his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and they saw that, under his robes, he had sackcloth^(C) on his body. ³¹ He said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”

³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders^(D) were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Don’t you see how this murderer^(E) is sending someone to cut off my head?^(F) Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” ³³ While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him.

The king said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait^(G) for the Lord any longer?”

7 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah^[a] of the finest flour will sell for a shekel^[b] and two seahs^[c] of barley for a shekel^(H) at the gate of Samaria.”

² The officer on whose arm the king was leaning^(I) said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates^(J) of the heavens, could this happen?”

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat^(K) any of it!”

The Beast out of the Earth

¹¹ Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth.^(A) It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.^{(B) 12} It exercised all the authority^(C) of the first beast on its behalf,^(D) and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast,^(E) whose fatal wound had been healed.^{(F) 13} And it performed great signs,^(G) even causing fire to come down from heaven^(H) to the earth in full view of the people. ¹⁴ Because of the signs^(I) it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived^(J) the inhabitants of the earth.^(K) It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.^{(L) 15} The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship^(M) the image to be killed.^{(N) 16} It also forced all people, great and small,^(O) rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,^{(P) 17} so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark,^(Q) which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.^(R)

¹⁸ This calls for wisdom.^(S) Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.^[a](T) That number is 666.