Joseph Dreams of Greatness

37 Now Jacob dwelt in the land ^(A)where his father was a ^[a]stranger, in the land of Canaan. ² This is the history of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought ^(B)a bad report of them to his father.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was ^(C)the son of his old age. Also he ^(D)made him a tunic of many colors. ⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they ^(E)hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

⁵ Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. ⁶ So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: ^7 (F)There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸ And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, ^(G)the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

¹⁰ So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and ^(H)your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” ¹¹ And ^(I)his brothers envied him, but his father ^(J)kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹² Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in ^(K)Shechem. ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of ^(L)Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵ Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

¹⁶ So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. ^(M)Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

¹⁷ And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in ^(N)Dothan.

¹⁸ Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, ^(O)they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ Then they said to one another, “Look, this ^[b]dreamer is coming! ^20 (P)Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹ But ^(Q)Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” ²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

²³ So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they ^(R)stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. ²⁴ Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

^25 (S)And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of ^(T)Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, ^(U)balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. ²⁶ So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and ^(V)conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ^(W)let not our hand be upon him, for he is ^(X)our brother and ^(Y)our flesh.” And his brothers listened. ²⁸ Then ^(Z)Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, ^(AA)and sold him to the Ishmaelites for ^(AB)twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he ^(AC)tore his clothes. ³⁰ And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad ^(AD)is no more; and I, where shall I go?”

³¹ So they took ^(AE)Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. ³² Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

³³ And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A ^(AF)wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Then Jacob ^(AG)tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and ^(AH)mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ And all his sons and all his daughters ^(AI)arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For ^(AJ)I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

³⁶ Now ^(AK)the ^[c]Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Judah and Tamar

38 It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers, and ^(AL)visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. ² And Judah ^(AM)saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was ^(AN)Shua, and he married her and went in to her. ³ So she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name ^(AO)Er. ⁴ She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name ^(AP)Onan. ⁵ And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name ^(AQ)Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him.

⁶ Then Judah ^(AR)took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was ^(AS)Tamar. ⁷ But ^(AT)Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, ^(AU)and the Lord killed him. ⁸ And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to ^(AV)your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.” ⁹ But Onan knew that the heir would not be ^(AW)his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. ¹⁰ And the thing which he did ^[d]displeased the Lord; therefore He killed ^(AX)him also.

¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, ^(AY)“Remain a widow in your father’s house till my son Shelah is grown.” For he said, “Lest he also die like his brothers.” And Tamar went and dwelt ^(AZ)in her father’s house.

¹² Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah’s wife, died; and Judah ^(BA)was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ And it was told Tamar, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up ^(BB)to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and ^(BC)sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw ^(BD)that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

¹⁷ And he said, ^(BE)“I will send a young goat from the flock.”

So she said, ^(BF)“Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”

¹⁸ Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”

So she said, ^(BG)“Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ So she arose and went away, and ^(BH)laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰ And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. ²¹ Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the harlot who was ^[e]openly by the roadside?”

And they said, “There was no harlot in this place.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place.”

²³ Then Judah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her.”

²⁴ And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has ^(BI)played the harlot; furthermore she is ^[f]with child by harlotry.”

So Judah said, “Bring her out ^(BJ)and let her be burned!”

²⁵ When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, ^(BK)“Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.”

²⁶ So Judah ^(BL)acknowledged them and said, ^(BM)“She has been more righteous than I, because ^(BN)I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he ^(BO)never knew her again.

²⁷ Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb. ²⁸ And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, “How did you break through? This breach be upon you!” Therefore his name was called ^(BP)Perez.^{[g] 30} Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called ^(BQ)Zerah.

Joseph a Slave in Egypt

39 Now Joseph had been taken ^(BR)down to Egypt. And ^(BS)Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, ^(BT)bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. ^2 (BU)The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. ³ And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord ^(BV)made all he did ^[h]to prosper in his hand. ⁴ So Joseph ^(BW)found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him ^(BX)overseer of his house, and all that he had he put ^[i]under his authority. ⁵ So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that ^(BY)the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. ⁶ Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s ^[j]hand, and he did not know what he had except for the ^[k]bread which he ate.

Now Joseph ^(BZ)was handsome in form and appearance.

⁷ And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife ^[l]cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, ^(CA)“Lie with me.”

⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. ⁹ There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. ^(CB)How then can I do this great wickedness, and ^(CC)sin against God?”

¹⁰ So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he ^(CD)did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.

¹¹ But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, ¹² that she ^(CE)caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. ¹³ And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, ¹⁴ that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a ^(CF)Hebrew to ^[m]mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵ And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.”

¹⁶ So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she ^(CG)spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; ¹⁸ so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”

¹⁹ So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his ^(CH)anger was aroused. ²⁰ Then Joseph’s master took him and ^(CI)put him into the ^(CJ)prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. ²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He ^(CK)gave^[n] him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²² And the keeper of the prison ^(CL)committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. ²³ The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under ^[o]Joseph’s authority, because ^(CM)the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

The Prisoners’ Dreams

40 It came to pass after these things that the ^(CN)butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. ² And Pharaoh was ^(CO)angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. ^3 (CP)So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. ⁴ And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while.

⁵ Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, ^(CQ)had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. ⁶ And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were ^[p]sad. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, ^(CR)“Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸ And they said to him, ^(CS)“We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.”

So Joseph said to them, ^(CT)“Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”

⁹ Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, ¹⁰ and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

¹² And Joseph said to him, ^(CU)“This is the interpretation of it: The three branches ^(CV)are three days. ¹³ Now within three days Pharaoh will ^(CW)lift up your head and restore you to your ^[q]place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. ¹⁴ But ^(CX)remember me when it is well with you, and ^(CY)please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. ¹⁵ For indeed I was ^(CZ)stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; ^(DA)and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three ^[r]white baskets on my head. ¹⁷ In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ So Joseph answered and said, ^(DB)“This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. ^19 (DC)Within three days Pharaoh will lift ^[s]off your head from you and ^(DD)hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

²⁰ Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s ^(DE)birthday, that he ^(DF)made a feast for all his servants; and he ^(DG)lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹ Then he ^(DH)restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and ^(DI)he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²² But he ^(DJ)hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³ Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but ^(DK)forgot him.

Pharaoh’s Dreams

41 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that ^(DL)Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. ² Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. ³ Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. ⁴ And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. ⁵ He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. ⁶ Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the ^(DM)east wind, sprang up after them. ⁷ And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream. ⁸ Now it came to pass in the morning ^(DN)that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all ^(DO)the magicians of Egypt and all its ^(DP)wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

⁹ Then the ^(DQ)chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. ¹⁰ When Pharaoh was ^(DR)angry with his servants, ^(DS)and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, ^11 (DT)we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. ¹² Now there was a young ^(DU)Hebrew man with us there, a ^(DV)servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he ^(DW)interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. ¹³ And it came to pass, just ^(DX)as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

^14 (DY)Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they ^(DZ)brought him quickly ^(EA)out of the dungeon; and he shaved, ^(EB)changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. ¹⁵ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. ^(EC)But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”

¹⁶ So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, ^(ED)“It is not in me; ^(EE)God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Behold, ^(EF)in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. ¹⁸ Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. ¹⁹ Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. ²¹ When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. ²² Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven ^[t]heads came up on one stalk, full and good. ²³ Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. ²⁴ And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So ^(EG)I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; ^(EH)God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ^[u]heads are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷ And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are ^(EI)seven years of famine. ^28 (EJ)This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁹ Indeed ^(EK)seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; ³⁰ but after them seven years of famine will ^(EL)arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine ^(EM)will deplete the land. ³¹ So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. ³² And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the ^(EN)thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

³³ “Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint ^[v]officers over the land, ^(EO)to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. ³⁵ And ^(EP)let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the ^[w]authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. ³⁶ Then that food shall be as a ^[x]reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land ^(EQ)may not ^[y]perish during the famine.”

Joseph’s Rise to Power

³⁷ So ^(ER)the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. ³⁸ And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man ^(ES)in whom is the Spirit of God?”

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. ^40 (ET)You shall be ^[z]over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have ^(EU)set you over all the land of Egypt.”

⁴² Then Pharaoh ^(EV)took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he ^(EW)clothed him in garments of fine linen ^(EX)and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ And he had him ride in the second ^(EY)chariot which he had; ^(EZ)and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him ^(FA)over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵ And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name ^[aa]Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife ^(FB)Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he ^(FC)stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth ^[ab]abundantly. ⁴⁸ So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. ⁴⁹ Joseph gathered very much grain, ^(FD)as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable.

^50 (FE)And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹ Joseph called the name of the firstborn ^[ac]Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my ^(FF)father’s house.” ⁵² And the name of the second he called ^[ad]Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be ^(FG)fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³ Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, ^54 (FH)and the seven years of famine began to come, ^(FI)as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵ So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; ^(FJ)whatever he says to you, do.” ⁵⁶ The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened ^[ae]all the storehouses and ^(FK)sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. ^57 (FL)So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to ^(FM)buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42 When ^(FN)Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ² And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may ^(FO)live and not die.”

³ So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, ^(FP)“Lest some calamity befall him.” ⁵ And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was ^(FQ)in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Now Joseph was governor ^(FR)over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and ^(FS)bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. ⁷ Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as ^(FT)a stranger to them and spoke ^[af]roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?”

And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸ So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ Then Joseph ^(FU)remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the ^[ag]nakedness of the land!”

¹⁰ And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.”

¹² But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

¹³ And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one ^(FV)is no more.”

¹⁴ But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ ¹⁵ In this manner you shall be tested: ^(FW)By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be ^[ah]kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!” ¹⁷ So he ^[ai]put them all together in prison ^(FX)three days.

¹⁸ Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, ^(FY)for I fear God: ¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. ²⁰ And ^(FZ)bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.”

And they did so. ²¹ Then they said to one another, ^(GA)“We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; ^(GB)therefore this distress has come upon us.”

²² And Reuben answered them, saying, ^(GC)“Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now ^(GD)required of us.” ²³ But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. ²⁴ And he turned himself away from them and ^(GE)wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took ^(GF)Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

The Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁵ Then Joseph ^(GG)gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to ^(GH)restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. ^(GI)Thus he did for them. ²⁶ So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. ²⁷ But as ^(GJ)one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸ So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts ^[aj]failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: ³⁰ “The man who is lord of the land ^(GK)spoke ^[ak]roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ^(GL)‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. ³⁴ And bring your ^(GM)youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may ^(GN)trade in the land.’ ”

³⁵ Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly ^(GO)each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, “You have ^(GP)bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take ^(GQ)Benjamin. All these things are against me.”

³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸ But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for ^(GR)his brother is dead, and he is left alone. ^(GS)If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would ^(GT)bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”

Joseph’s Brothers Return with Benjamin

43 Now the famine was ^(GU)severe in the land. ² And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go ^(GV)back, buy us a little food.”

³ But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your ^(GW)brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ”

⁶ And Israel said, “Why did you deal so ^[al]wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?”

⁷ But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸ Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may ^(GX)live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹ I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. ^(GY)If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰ For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”

¹¹ And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and ^(GZ)carry down a present for the man—a little ^(HA)balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money ^(HB)that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³ Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. ¹⁴ And may God ^(HC)Almighty ^(HD)give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. ^(HE)If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”

¹⁵ So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went ^(HF)down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ^(HG)steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter ^[am]an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷ Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.

¹⁸ Now the men were ^(HH)afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may ^[an]make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.”

¹⁹ When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, ²⁰ and said, “O sir, ^(HI)we indeed came down the first time to buy food; ²¹ but ^(HJ)it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. ²² And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”

²³ But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought ^(HK)Simeon out to them.

²⁴ So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and ^(HL)gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. ²⁵ Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there.

²⁶ And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and ^(HM)bowed down before him to the earth. ²⁷ Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man ^(HN)of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” ^(HO)And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.

²⁹ Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, ^(HP)his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother ^(HQ)of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Now ^(HR)his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and ^(HS)wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the ^(HT)bread.”

³² So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the ^(HU)Hebrews, for that is ^(HV)an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³ And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his ^(HW)birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. ³⁴ Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was ^(HX)five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.

Joseph’s Cup

44 And he commanded ^[ao]the ^(HY)steward of his house, saying, ^(HZ)“Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. ² Also put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his grain money.” So he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. ³ As soon as the morning dawned, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. ⁴ When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you ^(IA)repaid evil for good? ⁵ Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.’ ”

⁶ So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. ⁷ And they said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing. ⁸ Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan ^(IB)the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹ With whomever of your servants it is found, ^(IC)let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰ And he said, “Now also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.” ¹¹ Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack. ¹² So he searched. He began with the oldest and ^[ap]left off with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ Then they ^(ID)tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴ So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there; and they ^(IE)fell before him on the ground. ¹⁵ And Joseph said to them, “What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?”

¹⁶ Then Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has ^(IF)found out the iniquity of your servants; here ^(IG)we are, my lord’s slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found.”

¹⁷ But he said, ^(IH)“Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah Intercedes for Benjamin

¹⁸ Then Judah came near to him and said: “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and ^(II)do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and ^(IJ)a child of his old age, who is young; his brother is ^(IK)dead, and he ^(IL)alone is left of his mother’s children, and his ^(IM)father loves him.’ ²¹ Then you said to your servants, ^(IN)‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²² And we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³ But you said to your servants, ^(IO)‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’

²⁴ “So it was, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵ And ^(IP)our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’ ²⁶ But we said, ‘We cannot go down; if our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we may not see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷ Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that ^(IQ)my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸ and the one went out from me, and I said, ^(IR)“Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since. ²⁹ But if you ^(IS)take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.’

³⁰ “Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since ^(IT)his life is bound up in the lad’s life, ³¹ it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. ³² For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ^(IU)‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.’ ³³ Now therefore, please ^(IV)let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. ³⁴ For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would ^[aq]come upon my father?”

Joseph Revealed to His Brothers

45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him ^(IW)while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² And he ^(IX)wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.

³ Then Joseph said to his brothers, ^(IY)“I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. ⁴ And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, ^(IZ)whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; ^(JA)for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For these two years the ^(JB)famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷ And God ^(JC)sent me before you to preserve a ^[ar]posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸ So now it was not you who sent me here, but ^(JD)God; and He has made me ^(JE)a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ^(JF)ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

⁹ “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not ^[as]tarry. ^10 (JG)You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹ There I will ^(JH)provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.” ’

¹² “And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is ^(JI)my mouth that speaks to you. ¹³ So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and ^(JJ)bring my father down here.”

¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵ Moreover he ^(JK)kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” So it pleased Pharaoh and his servants well. ¹⁷ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat ^(JL)the ^[at]fat of the land. ¹⁹ Now you are commanded—do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come. ²⁰ Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

²¹ Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them ^(JM)carts,^[au] according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. ²² He gave to all of them, to each man, ^(JN)changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and ^(JO)five changes of garments. ²³ And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and food for his father for the journey. ²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.”

²⁵ Then they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. ²⁶ And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” ^(JP)And Jacob’s heart stood still, because he did not believe them. ²⁷ But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit ^(JQ)of Jacob their father revived. ²⁸ Then Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob’s Journey to Egypt^(JR)

46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to ^(JS)Beersheba, and offered sacrifices ^(JT)to the God of his father Isaac. ² Then God spoke to Israel ^(JU)in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

³ So He said, “I am God, ^(JV)the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will ^(JW)make of you a great nation there. ^4 (JX)I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely ^(JY)bring you up again; and ^(JZ)Joseph ^[av]will put his hand on your eyes.”

⁵ Then ^(KA)Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the ^[aw]carts ^(KB)which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶ So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, ^(KC)Jacob and all his descendants with him. ⁷ His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

⁸ Now ^(KD)these were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: ^(KE)Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹ The ^(KF)sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ^10 (KG)The sons of Simeon were ^[ax]Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, ^[ay]Jachin, ^[az]Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹ The sons of ^(KH)Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹² The sons of ^(KI)Judah were ^(KJ)Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). ^(KK)The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³ The sons of Issachar were Tola, ^[ba]Puvah, ^[bb]Job, and Shimron. ¹⁴ The ^(KL)sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵ These were the ^(KM)sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad were ^[bc]Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, ^[bd]Ezbon, Eri, ^[be]Arodi, and Areli. ^17 (KN)The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. ^18 (KO)These were the sons of Zilpah, ^(KP)whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons.

¹⁹ The ^(KQ)sons of Rachel, ^(KR)Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. ^20 (KS)And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. ^21 (KT)The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, ^(KU)Ehi, Rosh, ^(KV)Muppim, ^[bf]Huppim, and Ard. ²² These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all.

²³ The son of Dan was ^[bg]Hushim. ^24 (KW)The sons of Naphtali were ^[bh]Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and ^[bi]Shillem. ^25 (KX)These were the sons of Bilhah, ^(KY)whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all.

^26 (KZ)All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, ^(LA)besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. ²⁷ And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. ^(LB)All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.

Jacob Settles in Goshen

²⁸ Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, ^(LC)to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came ^(LD)to the land of Goshen. ²⁹ So Joseph made ready his ^(LE)chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and ^(LF)fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰ And Israel said to Joseph, ^(LG)“Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.”

³¹ Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, ^(LH)“I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘My brothers and those of my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³² And the men are ^(LI)shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.’ ³³ So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ^(LJ)‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ ^(LK)occupation has been with livestock ^(LL)from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is ^(LM)an^[bj] abomination to the Egyptians.”

Joseph Is Governor of Egypt

47 Then Joseph ^(LN)went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in ^(LO)the land of Goshen.” ² And he took five men from among his brothers and ^(LP)presented them to Pharaoh. ³ Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, ^(LQ)“What is your occupation?”

And they said to Pharaoh, ^(LR)“Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” ⁴ And they said to Pharaoh, ^(LS)“We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, ^(LT)for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants ^(LU)dwell in the land of Goshen.”

⁵ Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ^6 (LV)The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell ^(LW)in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”

⁷ Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob ^(LX)blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ^(LY)“The days of the years of my ^[bk]pilgrimage are ^(LZ)one hundred and thirty years; ^(MA)few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and ^(MB)they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” ¹⁰ So Jacob ^(MC)blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

¹¹ And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of ^(MD)Rameses, ^(ME)as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹² Then Joseph provided ^(MF)his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.

Joseph Deals with the Famine

¹³ Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, ^(MG)so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ^14 (MH)And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵ So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for ^(MI)why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he ^[bl]fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸ When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may ^(MJ)live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰ Then Joseph ^(MK)bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ And as for the people, he ^[bm]moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ^22 (ML)Only the land of the ^(MM)priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴ And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵ So they said, “You have saved ^(MN)our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶ And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, ^(MO)except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Joseph’s Vow to Jacob

²⁷ So Israel ^(MP)dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and ^(MQ)grew and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹ When the time ^(MR)drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please ^(MS)put your hand under my thigh, and ^(MT)deal kindly and truly with me. ^(MU)Please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but ^(MV)let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and ^(MW)bury me in their burial place.”

And he said, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹ Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So ^(MX)Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.

Israel’s Suffering in Egypt

1 Now ^(A)these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; ⁴ Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ⁵ All those ^[a]who were descendants of Jacob were ^(B)seventy^[b] persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). ⁶ And ^(C)Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. ^7 (D)But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and ^[c]grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ^(E)who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and ^(F)mightier than we; ^10 (G)come, let us ^(H)deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them ^(I)to afflict them with their ^(J)burdens. And they built for Pharaoh ^(K)supply cities, Pithom ^(L)and Raamses. ¹² But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³ So the Egyptians made the children of Israel ^(M)serve with ^[d]rigor. ¹⁴ And they ^(N)made their lives bitter with hard bondage—^(O)in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the ^(P)Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶ and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a ^(Q)son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives ^(R)feared God, and did not do ^(S)as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

¹⁹ And ^(T)the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they ^[e]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

^20 (U)Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and ^[f]grew very mighty. ²¹ And so it was, because the midwives feared God, ^(V)that He ^[g]provided households for them.

²² So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, ^(W)“Every son who is ^[h]born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Moses Is Born^(X)

2 And ^(Y)a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. ² So the woman conceived and bore a son. And ^(Z)when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. ³ But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of ^(AA)bulrushes for him, daubed it with ^(AB)asphalt and ^(AC)pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds ^(AD)by the river’s bank. ^4 (AE)And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

⁵ Then the ^(AF)daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. ⁶ And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion 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 a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

⁸ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ Then 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 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became ^(AG)her son. So she called his name ^[i]Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian^(AH)

¹¹ Now it came to pass in those days, ^(AI)when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. ¹² So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he ^(AJ)killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ And ^(AK)when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men ^(AL)were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

¹⁴ Then he said, ^(AM)“Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

So Moses ^(AN)feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” ¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But ^(AO)Moses fled from ^[j]the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of ^(AP)Midian; and he sat down by ^(AQ)a well.

^16 (AR)Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. ^(AS)And they came and drew water, and they filled the ^(AT)troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Then the ^(AU)shepherds came and ^(AV)drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and ^(AW)watered their flock.

¹⁸ When they came to ^(AX)Reuel^[k] their father, ^(AY)he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

¹⁹ And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may ^(AZ)eat bread.”

²¹ Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave ^(BA)Zipporah his daughter to Moses. ²² And she bore him a son. He called his name ^(BB)Gershom,^[l] for he said, “I have been ^(BC)a ^[m]stranger in a foreign land.”

²³ Now it happened ^(BD)in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel ^(BE)groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and ^(BF)their cry came up to God because of the bondage. ²⁴ So God ^(BG)heard their groaning, and God ^(BH)remembered His ^(BI)covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ And God ^(BJ)looked upon the children of Israel, and God ^(BK)acknowledged them.

Moses at the Burning Bush^(BL)

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of ^(BM)Jethro his father-in-law, ^(BN)the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to ^(BO)Horeb, ^(BP)the mountain of God. ² And ^(BQ)the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³ Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this ^(BR)great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

⁴ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called ^(BS)to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

⁵ Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. ^(BT)Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” ⁶ Moreover He said, ^(BU)“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 ^(BV)he was afraid to look upon God.

⁷ And the Lord said: ^(BW)“I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry ^(BX)because of their taskmasters, ^(BY)for I know their ^[n]sorrows. ⁸ So ^(BZ)I have come down to ^(CA)deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land ^(CB)to a good and large land, to a land ^(CC)flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(CD)the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. ⁹ Now therefore, behold, ^(CE)the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the ^(CF)oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ^10 (CG)Come now, therefore, and 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, ^(CH)“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹² So He said, ^(CI)“I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a ^(CJ)sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ^(CK)‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” ¹⁵ Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is ^(CL)My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ ¹⁶ Go and ^(CM)gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, ^(CN)“I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; ¹⁷ and I have said ^(CO)I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ ¹⁸ Then ^(CP)they will heed your voice; and ^(CQ)you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has ^(CR)met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I am sure that the king of Egypt ^(CS)will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. ²⁰ So I will ^(CT)stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with ^(CU)all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and ^(CV)after that he will let you go. ²¹ And ^(CW)I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. ^22 (CX)But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, ^(CY)articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So ^(CZ)you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Miraculous Signs for Pharaoh

4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

² So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

He said, “A rod.”

³ And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), ⁵ “that they may ^(DA)believe that the ^(DB)Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶ Furthermore the Lord said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, ^(DC)like snow. ⁷ And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, ^(DD)it was restored like his other flesh. ⁸ “Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the ^(DE)first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. ⁹ And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from ^[o]the river and pour it on the dry land. ^(DF)The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but ^(DG)I am slow of speech and ^[p]slow of tongue.”

¹¹ So the Lord said to him, ^(DH)“Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore, go, and I will be ^(DI)with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

¹³ But he said, “O my Lord, ^(DJ)please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

¹⁴ So ^(DK)the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your ^(DL)brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, ^(DM)he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ Now ^(DN)you shall speak to him and ^(DO)put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and ^(DP)I will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶ So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and ^(DQ)you shall be to him as God. ¹⁷ And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

Moses Goes to Egypt

¹⁸ So Moses went and returned to ^(DR)Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.”

And Jethro said to Moses, ^(DS)“Go in peace.”

¹⁹ Now the Lord said to Moses in ^(DT)Midian, “Go, return to ^(DU)Egypt; for all the men who ^(DV)sought your life are dead.” ²⁰ Then Moses ^(DW)took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took ^(DX)the rod of God in his hand.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those ^(DY)wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But ^(DZ)I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then you shall ^(EA)say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(EB)“Israel is My son, ^(EC)My firstborn. ²³ So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed ^(ED)I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

²⁴ And it came to pass on the way, at the ^(EE)encampment, that the Lord ^(EF)met him and sought to ^(EG)kill him. ²⁵ Then ^(EH)Zipporah took ^(EI)a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and ^[q]cast it at ^[r]Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” ²⁶ So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a ^[s]husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.

²⁷ And the Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness ^(EJ)to meet Moses.” So he went and met him on ^(EK)the mountain of God, and kissed him. ²⁸ So Moses ^(EL)told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the ^(EM)signs which He had commanded him. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron ^(EN)went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. ^30 (EO)And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ So the people ^(EP)believed; and when they heard that the Lord had ^(EQ)visited the children of Israel and that He ^(ER)had looked on their affliction, then ^(ES)they bowed their heads and worshiped.

First Encounter with Pharaoh

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may ^[t]hold ^(ET)a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”

² And Pharaoh said, ^(EU)“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, ^(EV)nor will I let Israel go.”

³ So they said, ^(EW)“The God of the Hebrews has ^(EX)met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with ^(EY)pestilence or with the sword.”

⁴ Then the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your ^(EZ)labor.” ⁵ And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are ^(FA)many now, and you make them rest from their labor!”

⁶ So the same day Pharaoh commanded the ^(FB)taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, ⁷ “You shall no longer give the people straw to make ^(FC)brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”

¹⁰ And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹ Go, get yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be reduced.’ ” ¹² So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. ¹³ And the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, “Fulfill your work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.” ¹⁴ Also the ^(FD)officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were ^(FE)beaten and were asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as before?”

¹⁵ Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why are you dealing thus with your servants? ¹⁶ There is no straw given to your servants, and they say to us, ‘Make brick!’ And indeed your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.”

¹⁷ But he said, “You are idle! Idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Therefore go now and work; for no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the quota of bricks.” ¹⁹ And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble after it was said, “You shall not reduce any bricks from your daily quota.”

²⁰ Then, as they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who stood there to meet them. ^21 (FF)And they said to them, “Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made ^[u]us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

Israel’s Deliverance Assured^(FG)

²² So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? ²³ For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”

God Renews His Promise to Israel

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For ^(FH)with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand ^(FI)he will drive them out of his land.”

² And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am ^[v]the Lord. ^3 (FJ)I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as ^(FK)God Almighty, but by My name ^(FL)Lord^[w] I was not known to them. ^4 (FM)I have also ^[x]established My covenant with them, ^(FN)to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their ^[y]pilgrimage, ^(FO)in which they were ^[z]strangers. ⁵ And ^(FP)I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶ Therefore say to the children of Israel: ^(FQ)‘I am the Lord; ^(FR)I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will ^(FS)rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with ^[aa]an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷ I will ^(FT)take you as My people, and ^(FU)I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out ^(FV)from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ And I will bring you into the land which I ^(FW)swore^[ab] to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.’ ” ⁹ So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; ^(FX)but they did not heed Moses, because of ^(FY)anguish^[ac] of spirit and cruel bondage.

¹⁰ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹ “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”

¹² And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for ^(FZ)I am ^[ad]of uncircumcised lips?”

¹³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a ^(GA)command^[ae] for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Family of Moses and Aaron^(GB)

¹⁴ These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: ^(GC)The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. ^15 (GD)And the sons of Simeon were ^[af]Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶ These are the names of ^(GE)the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. ^17 (GF)The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. ¹⁸ And ^(GG)the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. ^19 (GH)The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.

²⁰ Now ^(GI)Amram took for himself ^(GJ)Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him ^(GK)Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. ^21 (GL)The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²² And ^(GM)the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. ²³ Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of ^(GN)Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him ^(GO)Nadab, Abihu, ^(GP)Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴ And ^(GQ)the sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵ Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and ^(GR)she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶ These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their ^(GS)armies.”^{[ag] 27} These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, ^(GT)to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron Is Moses’ Spokesman

²⁸ And it came to pass, on the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord. ^(GU)Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”

³⁰ But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, ^(GV)I am ^[ah]of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”

Moses Before Pharaoh

7 So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you ^(GW)as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be ^(GX)your prophet. ² You ^(GY)shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. ³ And ^(GZ)I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and ^(HA)multiply My ^(HB)signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ But ^(HC)Pharaoh will not heed you, so ^(HD)that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My ^[ai]armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt ^(HE)by great judgments. ⁵ And the Egyptians ^(HF)shall know that I am the Lord, when I ^(HG)stretch out My hand on Egypt and ^(HH)bring out the children of Israel from among them.”

⁶ Then Moses and Aaron ^(HI)did so; just as the Lord commanded them, so they did. ⁷ And Moses was ^(HJ)eighty years old and ^(HK)Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Miraculous Rod^(HL)

⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ⁹ “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ^(HM)‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ^(HN)‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’ ” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just ^(HO)as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it ^(HP)became a serpent.

¹¹ But Pharaoh also ^(HQ)called the wise men and ^(HR)the ^[aj]sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also ^(HS)did in like manner with their ^[ak]enchantments. ¹² For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. ¹³ And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Waters Become Blood

¹⁴ So the Lord said to Moses: ^(HT)“Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the ^(HU)water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and ^(HV)the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ^(HW)‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, ^(HX)that they may ^[al]serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord: “By this ^(HY)you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and ^(HZ)they shall be turned ^(IA)to blood. ¹⁸ And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will ^(IB)loathe^[am] to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”

¹⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and ^(IC)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” ²⁰ And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he ^(ID)lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the ^(IE)waters that were in the river were turned to blood. ²¹ The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians ^(IF)could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

^22 (IG)Then the magicians of Egypt did ^(IH)so with their ^[an]enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, ^(II)as the Lord had said. ²³ And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. ²⁴ So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river. ²⁵ And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.

The Second Plague: Frogs

8 And the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Let My people go, ^(IJ)that they may serve Me. ² But if you ^(IK)refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with ^(IL)frogs. ³ So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your ^(IM)bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. ⁴ And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.” ’ ”

⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^(IN)‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’ ” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and ^(IO)the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ^7 (IP)And the magicians did so with their ^[ao]enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

⁸ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, ^(IQ)“Entreat^[ap] the Lord that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people ^(IR)go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

⁹ And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.”

¹⁰ So he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “Let it be according to your word, that you may know that ^(IS)there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹ And the frogs shall depart from you, from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.”

¹² Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses ^(IT)cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh. ¹³ So the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields. ¹⁴ They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that there was ^(IU)relief, ^(IV)he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Lice

¹⁶ So the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become ^[aq]lice throughout all the land of Egypt.’ ” ¹⁷ And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and ^(IW)it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸ Now ^(IX)the magicians so worked with their ^[ar]enchantments to bring forth lice, but they ^(IY)could not. So there were lice on man and beast. ¹⁹ Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is ^(IZ)the^[as] finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s ^(JA)heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.

The Fourth Plague: Flies

²⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(JB)“Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes out to the water. Then say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(JC)“Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ²¹ Or else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. ²² And in that day ^(JD)I will set apart the land of ^(JE)Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may ^(JF)know that I am the Lord in the midst of the ^(JG)land. ²³ I will ^[at]make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this ^(JH)sign shall be.” ’ ” ²⁴ And the Lord did so. ^(JI)Thick swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.

²⁵ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

²⁶ And Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing ^(JJ)the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not ^[au]stone us? ²⁷ We will go ^(JK)three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as ^(JL)He will command us.”

²⁸ So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. ^(JM)Intercede for me.”

²⁹ Then Moses said, “Indeed I am going out from you, and I will entreat the Lord, that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. But let Pharaoh not ^(JN)deal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”

³⁰ So Moses went out from Pharaoh and ^(JO)entreated the Lord. ³¹ And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained. ³² But Pharaoh ^(JP)hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.

The Fifth Plague: Livestock Diseased

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(JQ)“Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may ^(JR)serve Me. ² For if you ^(JS)refuse to let them go, and still hold them, ³ behold, the ^(JT)hand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep—a very severe pestilence. ⁴ And ^(JU)the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” ’ ” ⁵ Then the Lord appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.”

⁶ So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and ^(JV)all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. ⁷ Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the ^(JW)heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils^(JX)

⁸ So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹ And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause ^(JY)boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven. And they caused ^(JZ)boils that break out in sores on man and beast. ¹¹ And the ^(KA)magicians could not stand before Moses because of the ^(KB)boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. ¹² But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he ^(KC)did not heed them, just ^(KD)as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(KE)“Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may ^(KF)serve Me, ¹⁴ for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, ^(KG)that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. ¹⁵ Now if I had ^(KH)stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with ^(KI)pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. ¹⁶ But indeed for ^(KJ)this purpose I have raised you up, that I may ^(KK)show My power in you, and that My ^(KL)name may be declared in all the earth. ¹⁷ As yet you exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go. ¹⁸ Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now. ¹⁹ Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home; and they shall die.” ’ ”

²⁰ He who ^(KM)feared the word of the Lord among the ^(KN)servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. ²¹ But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field.

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be ^(KO)hail in all the land of Egypt—on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” ²³ And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and ^(KP)the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. ²⁴ So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵ And the ^(KQ)hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. ^26 (KR)Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

²⁷ And Pharaoh sent and ^(KS)called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ^(KT)“I have sinned this time. ^(KU)The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. ^28 (KV)Entreat^[av] the Lord, that there may be no more ^[aw]mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you ^(KW)go, and you shall stay no longer.”

²⁹ So Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will ^(KX)spread out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the ^(KY)earth is the Lord’s. ³⁰ But as for you and your servants, ^(KZ)I know that you will not yet fear the Lord God.”

³¹ Now the flax and the barley were struck, ^(LA)for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud. ³² But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are ^[ax]late crops.

³³ So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and ^(LB)spread out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. ³⁴ And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. ³⁵ So ^(LC)the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.

The Eighth Plague: Locusts^(LD)

10 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; ^(LE)for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, ^(LF)that I may show these signs of Mine before him, ² and that ^(LG)you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may ^(LH)know that I am the Lord.”

³ So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to ^(LI)humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may ^(LJ)serve Me. ⁴ Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring ^(LK)locusts into your territory. ⁵ And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and ^(LL)they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. ⁶ They shall ^(LM)fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷ Then Pharaoh’s ^(LN)servants said to him, “How long shall this man be ^(LO)a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”

⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?”

⁹ And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for ^(LP)we must hold a feast to the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then he said to them, “The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you. ¹¹ Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.” And they were driven ^(LQ)out from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(LR)“Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and ^(LS)eat every herb of the land—all that the hail has left.” ¹³ So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴ And ^(LT)the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; ^(LU)previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. ¹⁵ For they ^(LV)covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ^(LW)ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Then Pharaoh called ^(LX)for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, ^(LY)“I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and ^(LZ)entreat^[ay] the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.” ¹⁸ So he ^(MA)went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them ^(MB)into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord ^(MC)hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(MD)“Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, ^[az]darkness which may even be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was ^(ME)thick darkness in all the land of Egypt ^(MF)three days. ²³ They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. ^(MG)But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

²⁴ Then Pharaoh called to Moses and ^(MH)said, “Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your ^(MI)little ones also go with you.”

²⁵ But Moses said, “You must also give ^[ba]us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. ²⁶ Our ^(MJ)livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.”

²⁷ But the Lord ^(MK)hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸ Then Pharaoh said to him, ^(ML)“Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!”

²⁹ So Moses said, “You have spoken well. ^(MM)I will never see your face again.”

Death of the Firstborn Announced^(MN)

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. ^(MO)Afterward he will let you go from here. ^(MP)When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. ² Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, ^(MQ)articles of silver and articles of gold.” ^3 (MR)And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man ^(MS)Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴ Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ^(MT)‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; ⁵ and ^(MU)all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. ^6 (MV)Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, ^(MW)such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. ^7 (MX)But against none of the children of Israel ^(MY)shall a dog ^[bb]move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ ⁸ And ^(MZ)all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” ^(NA)Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹ But the Lord said to Moses, ^(NB)“Pharaoh will not heed you, so that ^(NC)My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; ^(ND)and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

The Passover Instituted^(NE)

12 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ^2 (NF)“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³ Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the ^(NG)tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be ^(NH)without^[bc] blemish, a male ^[bd]of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ Now you shall keep it until the ^(NI)fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷ And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸ Then they shall eat the flesh on that ^(NJ)night; ^(NK)roasted in fire, with ^(NL)unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but ^(NM)roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ^10 (NN)You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹ And thus you shall eat it: ^[be]with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. ^(NO)It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² ‘For I ^(NP)will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and ^(NQ)against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: ^(NR)I am the Lord. ¹³ Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ ‘So this day shall be to you ^(NS)a memorial; and you shall keep it as a ^(NT)feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast ^(NU)by an everlasting ordinance. ^15 (NV)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, ^(NW)that ^[bf]person shall be ^[bg]cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day there shall be ^(NX)a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^(NY)on this same day I will have brought your ^[bh]armies ^(NZ)out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. ^18 (OA)In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹ For ^(OB)seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹ Then ^(OC)Moses called for all the ^(OD)elders of Israel and said to them, ^(OE)“Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. ^22 (OF)And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and ^(OG)strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. ^23 (OH)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the ^(OI)blood on the ^[bi]lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^(OJ)not allow ^(OK)the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. ²⁴ And you shall ^(OL)observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. ²⁵ It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, ^(OM)just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. ^26 (ON)And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ that you shall say, ^(OO)‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people ^(OP)bowed their heads and worshiped. ²⁸ Then the children of Israel went away and ^(OQ)did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn^(OR)

^29 (OS)And it came to pass at midnight that ^(OT)the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was ^[bj]in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of ^(OU)livestock. ³⁰ So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

The Exodus

³¹ Then he ^(OV)called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, ^(OW)both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have ^(OX)said. ^32 (OY)Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”

^33 (OZ)And the Egyptians ^(PA)urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵ Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians ^(PB)articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ^36 (PC)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus ^(PD)they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ Then ^(PE)the children of Israel journeyed from ^(PF)Rameses to Succoth, about ^(PG)six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. ³⁸ A ^(PH)mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of ^(PI)livestock. ³⁹ And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because ^(PJ)they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ Now the ^[bk]sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in ^[bl]Egypt was ^(PK)four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹ And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that ^(PL)all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It is ^(PM)a ^[bm]night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Passover Regulations^(PN)

⁴³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is ^(PO)the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. ⁴⁴ But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have ^(PP)circumcised him, then he may eat it. ^45 (PQ)A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. ⁴⁶ In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, ^(PR)nor shall you break one of its bones. ^47 (PS)All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸ And ^(PT)when a stranger ^[bn]dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. ^49 (PU)One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”

⁵⁰ Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. ^51 (PV)And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ^(PW)according to their armies.

The Firstborn Consecrated

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (PX)“Consecrate^[bo] to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread^(PY)

³ And Moses said to the people: ^(PZ)“Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of ^[bp]bondage; for ^(QA)by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. ^(QB)No leavened bread shall be eaten. ^4 (QC)On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. ⁵ And it shall be, when the Lord ^(QD)brings you into the ^(QE)land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He ^(QF)swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ^(QG)that you shall keep this service in this month. ^6 (QH)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 seven days. And ^(QI)no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. ⁸ And you shall ^(QJ)tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ ⁹ It shall be as ^(QK)a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ^10 (QL)You shall therefore keep this ^[bq]ordinance in its season from year to year.

The Law of the Firstborn

¹¹ “And it shall be, when the Lord ^(QM)brings you into the land of the ^(QN)Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, ^12 (QO)that you shall ^[br]set apart to the Lord all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the Lord’s. ¹³ But ^(QP)every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons ^(QQ)you shall redeem. ^14 (QR)So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ^(QS)‘By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹⁵ And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that ^(QT)the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ It shall be as ^(QU)a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

The Wilderness Way^(QV)

¹⁷ Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people ^(QW)change their minds when they see war, and ^(QX)return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God ^(QY)led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁹ And Moses took the ^(QZ)bones of ^(RA)Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, ^(RB)“God will surely ^[bs]visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”

²⁰ So ^(RC)they took their journey from ^(RD)Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ And ^(RE)the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. ²² He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

The Red Sea Crossing

14 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Speak to the children of Israel, ^(RF)that they turn and camp before ^(RG)Pi Hahiroth, between ^(RH)Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ^(RI)‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ ⁴ Then ^(RJ)I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I ^(RK)will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, ^(RL)that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵ Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and ^(RM)the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” ⁶ So he ^[bt]made ready his chariot and took his people with him. ⁷ Also, he took ^(RN)six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. ⁸ And the Lord ^(RO)hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and ^(RP)the children of Israel went out with boldness. ⁹ So the ^(RQ)Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.

¹⁰ And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel ^(RR)cried out to the Lord. ^11 (RS)Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? ^12 (RT)Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

¹³ And Moses said to the people, ^(RU)“Do not be afraid. ^(RV)Stand still, and see the ^(RW)salvation^[bu] of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall ^(RX)see again no more forever. ^14 (RY)The Lord will fight for you, and you shall ^(RZ)hold^[bv] your peace.”

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ But ^(SA)lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. ¹⁷ And I indeed will ^(SB)harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will ^(SC)gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸ Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁹ And the Angel of God, ^(SD)who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. ²⁰ So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and ^(SE)made the sea into dry land, and the waters were ^(SF)divided. ²² So ^(SG)the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were ^(SH)a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³ And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

²⁴ Now it came to pass, in the morning ^(SI)watch, that ^(SJ)the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He ^[bw]troubled the army of the Egyptians. ²⁵ And He ^[bx]took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord ^(SK)fights for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” ²⁷ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea ^(SL)returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord ^(SM)overthrew^[by] the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. ²⁸ Then ^(SN)the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. ²⁹ But ^(SO)the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰ So the Lord ^(SP)saved^[bz] Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel ^(SQ)saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹ Thus Israel saw the great ^[ca]work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and ^(SR)believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

The Song of Moses^(SS)

15 Then ^(ST)Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying:

¹⁹ For the ^(UH)horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and ^(UI)the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.

The Song of Miriam^(UJ)

²⁰ Then Miriam ^(UK)the prophetess, ^(UL)the sister of Aaron, ^(UM)took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her ^(UN)with timbrels and with dances. ²¹ And Miriam ^(UO)answered them:

Bitter Waters Made Sweet

²² So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of ^(UQ)Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no ^(UR)water. ²³ Now when they came to ^(US)Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called ^[ce]Marah. ²⁴ And the people ^(UT)complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. ^(UU)When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

There He ^(UV)made a statute and an ^[cf]ordinance for them, and there ^(UW)He tested them, ²⁶ and said, ^(UX)“If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the ^(UY)diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord ^(UZ)who heals you.”

^27 (VA)Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.

Bread from Heaven

16 And they ^(VB)journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and ^(VC)Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. ² Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel ^(VD)complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³ And the children of Israel said to them, ^(VE)“Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ^(VF)when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain ^(VG)bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather ^[cg]a certain quota every day, that I may ^(VH)test them, whether they will ^(VI)walk in My law or not. ⁵ And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and ^(VJ)it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”

⁶ Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, ^(VK)“At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ And in the morning you shall see ^(VL)the glory of the Lord; for He ^(VM)hears your complaints against the Lord. But ^(VN)what are we, that you complain against us?” ⁸ Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but ^(VO)against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ^(VP)‘Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints.’ ” ¹⁰ Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord ^(VQ)appeared in the cloud.

¹¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^12 (VR)“I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ^(VS)‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and ^(VT)in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”

¹³ So it was that ^(VU)quail came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning ^(VV)the dew lay all around the camp. ¹⁴ And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was ^(VW)a small round ^(VX)substance, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

And Moses said to them, ^(VY)“This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it ^(VZ)according to each one’s need, one ^(WA)omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ ”

¹⁷ Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. ¹⁸ So when they measured it by omers, ^(WB)he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. ¹⁹ And Moses said, “Let no one ^(WC)leave any of it till morning.” ²⁰ Notwithstanding they did not ^[ch]heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. ²¹ So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

²² And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. ²³ Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is ^(WD)a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” ²⁴ So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not ^(WE)stink, nor were there any worms in it. 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 (WF)Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

²⁷ Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long ^(WG)do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? ²⁹ See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ And the house of Israel called its name ^[ci]Manna. And ^(WH)it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

³² Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it, to be kept for 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 And Moses said to Aaron, ^(WI)“Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up ^(WJ)before the Testimony, to be kept. ³⁵ And the children of Israel ^(WK)ate manna ^(WL)forty years, ^(WM)until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.

Water from the Rock^(WN)

17 Then ^(WO)all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of ^(WP)Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to ^(WQ)drink. ^2 (WR)Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.”

So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you ^(WS)tempt the Lord?”

³ And the people thirsted there for water, and the people ^(WT)complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our ^(WU)livestock with thirst?”

⁴ So Moses ^(WV)cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to ^(WW)stone^[cj] me!”

⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(WX)“Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which ^(WY)you struck the river, and go. ^6 (WZ)Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ So he called the name of the place ^(XA)Massah^[ck] and ^[cl]Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they ^[cm]tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Victory over the Amalekites^(XB)

^8 (XC)Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. ⁹ And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with ^(XD)the rod of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ And so it was, when Moses ^(XE)held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands became ^[cn]heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³ So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(XF)“Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that ^(XG)I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” ¹⁵ And Moses built an altar and called its name, ^[co]The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; ¹⁶ for he said, “Because ^[cp]the Lord has ^(XH)sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Jethro’s Advice^(XI)

18 And ^(XJ)Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that ^(XK)God had done for Moses and for Israel His people—that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took ^(XL)Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, ³ with her ^(XM)two sons, of whom the name of one was ^[cq]Gershom (for he said, ^(XN)“I have been a ^[cr]stranger in a foreign land”) ⁴ and the name of the other was ^[cs]Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my ^(XO)help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”); ⁵ and Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at ^(XP)the mountain of God. ⁶ Now he had said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.”

⁷ So Moses ^(XQ)went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and ^(XR)kissed him. And they asked each other about their well-being, and they went into the tent. ⁸ And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the Lord had ^(XS)delivered them. ⁹ Then Jethro rejoiced for all the ^(XT)good which the Lord had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ And Jethro said, ^(XU)“Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is ^(XV)greater than all the gods; ^(XW)for in the very thing in which they ^[ct]behaved ^(XX)proudly, He was above them.” ¹² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, ^[cu]took a burnt ^(XY)offering and other sacrifices to offer to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel ^(XZ)to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

¹³ And so it was, on the next day, that Moses ^(YA)sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. ¹⁴ So when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone ^[cv]sit, and all the people stand before you from morning until evening?”

¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because ^(YB)the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶ When they have ^(YC)a ^[cw]difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

¹⁷ So Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. ¹⁸ Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; ^(YD)you are not able to perform it by yourself. ¹⁹ Listen now to my voice; I will give you ^[cx]counsel, and God will be with you: Stand ^(YE)before God for the people, so that you may ^(YF)bring the difficulties to God. ²⁰ And you shall ^(YG)teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and ^(YH)the work they must do. ²¹ Moreover you shall select from all the people ^(YI)able men, such as ^(YJ)fear God, ^(YK)men of truth, ^(YL)hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. ²² And let them judge the people at all times. ^(YM)Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for ^(YN)they will bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their ^(YO)place in peace.”

²⁴ So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ And ^(YP)Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. ²⁶ So they judged the people at all times; the ^(YQ)hard^[cy] cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.

²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and ^(YR)he went his way to his own land.

Israel at Mount Sinai

19 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, ^(YS)they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. ² For they had departed from ^(YT)Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before ^(YU)the mountain.

³ And ^(YV)Moses went up to God, and the Lord ^(YW)called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ^4 (YX)‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how ^(YY)I ^[cz]bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. ⁵ Now ^(YZ)therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and ^(ZA)keep My covenant, then ^(ZB)you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is ^(ZC)Mine. ⁶ And you shall be to Me a ^(ZD)kingdom of priests and a ^(ZE)holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

⁷ So Moses came and called for the ^(ZF)elders of the people, and ^[da]laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. ⁸ Then ^(ZG)all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you ^(ZH)in the thick cloud, ^(ZI)that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.”

So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and ^(ZJ)consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. ¹¹ And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹² You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. ^(ZK)Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. ¹³ Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.”

¹⁴ So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. ¹⁵ And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; ^(ZL)do not come near your wives.”

¹⁶ Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were ^(ZM)thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp ^(ZN)trembled. ¹⁷ And ^(ZO)Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Now ^(ZP)Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon ^(ZQ)it in fire. ^(ZR)Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and ^[db]the ^(ZS)whole mountain quaked greatly. ¹⁹ And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, ^(ZT)Moses spoke, and ^(ZU)God answered him by voice. ²⁰ Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through ^(ZV)to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. ²² Also let the ^(ZW)priests who come near the Lord ^(ZX)consecrate themselves, lest the Lord ^(ZY)break out against them.”

²³ But Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ^(ZZ)‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’ ”

²⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them.” ²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

The Ten Commandments^(AAA)

20 And God spoke ^(AAB)all these words, saying:

The People Afraid of God’s Presence

¹⁸ Now ^(ABA)all the people ^(ABB)witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain ^(ABC)smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. ¹⁹ Then they said to Moses, ^(ABD)“You speak with us, and we will hear; but ^(ABE)let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

²⁰ And Moses said to the people, ^(ABF)“Do not fear; ^(ABG)for God has come to test you, and ^(ABH)that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” ²¹ So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near ^(ABI)the thick darkness where God was.

The Law of the Altar

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you ^(ABJ)from heaven. ²³ You shall not make anything to be ^(ABK)with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. ²⁴ An altar of ^(ABL)earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, ^(ABM)your sheep and your oxen. In every ^(ABN)place where I ^[df]record My name I will come to you, and I will ^(ABO)bless you. ²⁵ And ^(ABP)if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you ^(ABQ)use your tool on it, you have profaned it. ²⁶ Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your ^(ABR)nakedness may not be exposed on it.’