Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like ^(A)God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your ^(B)prophet. ^2 (C)You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. ³ But ^(D)I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I ^(E)multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. ⁵ The Egyptians ^(F)shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. ⁷ Now Moses was ^(G)eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ^(H)‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the ^(I)magicians of Egypt, also ^(J)did the same by their secret arts. ¹² For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Still ^(K)Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, ^(L)as the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. ^15 (M)Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand ^(N)the staff that turned into a ^(O)serpent. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ‘The ^(P)Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, ^(Q)that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, “By this ^(R)you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and ^(S)it shall turn into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will ^(T)grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”’” ¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and ^(U)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he ^(V)lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the ^(W)water in the Nile turned into blood. ²¹ And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians ^(X)could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. ²² But ^(Y)the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So ^(Z)Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as ^(AA)the Lord had said. ²³ Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.

²⁵ Seven full days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

The Ten Commandments

20 ^(A)And ^(B)God spoke all these words, saying,

^2 (C)“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

^3 (D)“You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

^4 (E)“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ^5 (F)You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am ^(G)a jealous God, ^(H)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

^7 (I)“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

^8 (J)“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ^9 (K)Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the ^(L)seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the ^(M)sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For ^(N)in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

^12 (O)“Honor your father and your mother, ^(P)that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

^13 (Q)“You shall not murder.^[c]

^14 (R)“You shall not commit adultery.

^15 (S)“You shall not steal.

^16 (T)“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

^17 (U)“You shall not covet ^(V)your neighbor's house; ^(W)you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

¹⁸ Now when all the people saw ^(X)the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid^[d] and trembled, and they stood far off ¹⁹ and said to Moses, ^(Y)“You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ^20 (Z)Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to ^(AA)test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” ²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the ^(AB)thick darkness where God was.

Laws About Altars

²² And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have ^(AC)talked with you from heaven. ^23 (AD)You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. ²⁴ An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. ^(AE)In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and ^(AF)bless you. ^25 (AG)If you make me an altar of stone, ^(AH)you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. ²⁶ And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

The Covenant Confirmed

24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^(A)Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(B)seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. ² Moses ^(C)alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

³ Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and ^(D)all the rules.^[a] And all the people answered with one voice and said, ^(E)“All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” ⁴ And ^(F)Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve ^(G)pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. ⁶ And ^(H)Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ^(I)“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” ^8 (J)And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(K)seventy of the elders of Israel ^(L)went up, ¹⁰ and they ^(M)saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of ^(N)sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. ¹¹ And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ^(O)ate and drank.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, ^(P)“Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the ^(Q)tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³ So Moses rose with his assistant ^(R)Joshua, and Moses went up ^(S)into the mountain of God. ¹⁴ And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and ^(T)Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”

¹⁵ Then Moses went up on the mountain, and ^(U)the cloud covered the mountain. ^16 (V)The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷ Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a ^(W)devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses ^(X)was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Contributions for the Sanctuary

25 The Lord said to Moses, ^2 (A)“Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From ^(B)every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. ³ And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, ^4 (C)blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, ⁵ tanned ^(D)rams' skins, goatskins,^[a] acacia wood, ^6 (E)oil for the lamps, ^(F)spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, ⁷ onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ^(G)ephod and for the breastpiece. ⁸ And let them make me a ^(H)sanctuary, that ^(I)I may dwell in their midst. ^9 (J)Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the ^(K)tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

The Ark of the Covenant

^10 (L)“They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits^[b] and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. ¹¹ You shall overlay it with ^(M)pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. ¹² You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its ^(N)four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. ¹³ You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. ¹⁵ The ^(O)poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. ^16 (P)And you shall put into the ark the ^(Q)testimony that I shall give you.

^17 (R)“You shall make a mercy seat^[c] of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. ¹⁸ And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of ^(S)hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. ¹⁹ Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. ^(T)Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. ^20 (U)The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. ²¹ And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. ^22 (V)There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from ^(W)between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

The Table for Bread

^23 (X)“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. ²⁴ You shall overlay it with ^(Y)pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. ²⁵ And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth^[d] wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. ²⁶ And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. ²⁷ Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as ^(Z)holders for the poles to carry the table. ²⁸ You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. ²⁹ And you shall make its plates and ^(AA)dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. ³⁰ And you shall set the ^(AB)bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

The Golden Lampstand

^31 (AC)“You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. ³² And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; ³³ three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. ³⁴ And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, ³⁵ and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand. ³⁶ Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. ³⁷ You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps ^(AD)shall be set up so as ^(AE)to give light on the space in front of it. ³⁸ Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. ³⁹ It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talent^[e] of pure gold. ⁴⁰ And ^(AF)see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.