³ But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan^(A) and gave him many descendants.^(B) I gave him Isaac,^{(C) 4} and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.^(D) I assigned the hill country of Seir^(E) to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.^(F)

⁵ “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron,^(G) and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.^(H)

¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^(A) and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years^(B) your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved^(C) and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out^(D) with great possessions.^{(E) 15} You, however, will go to your ancestors^(F) in peace and be buried at a good old age.^(G)

³³ The Egyptians urged the people to hurry^(A) and leave^(B) the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!”^{(C) 34} So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs^(D) wrapped in clothing. ³⁵ The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold^(E) and for clothing.^{(F) 36} The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed^(G) toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered^(H) the Egyptians.

³⁷ The Israelites journeyed from Rameses^(I) to Sukkoth.^(J) There were about six hundred thousand men^(K) on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸ Many other people^(L) went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out^(M) of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

⁴⁰ Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt^[a] was 430 years.^{(N) 41} At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions^(O) left Egypt.^{(P) 42} Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.^(Q)

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.^{(A) 2} He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice^(B) against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”^(C)

⁶ And the Lord^(D) said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out^(E) to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man^(F) comes,^(G) will he find faith on the earth?”