15 Then from Jerusalem came scribes and Pharisees and said,

² Why do Your disciples transgress and violate the rules handed down by the elders of the past? For they do not practice [ceremonially] washing their hands before they eat.

³ He replied to them, And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers (the elders)?

⁴ For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother, and, He who curses or reviles or speaks evil of or abuses or treats improperly his father or mother, let him surely come to his end by death.^(A)

⁵ But you say, If anyone tells his father or mother, What you would have gained from me [that is, the money and whatever I have that might be used for helping you] is already dedicated as a gift to God, then he is exempt and no longer under obligation to honor and help his father or his mother.

⁶ So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect].

⁷ You pretenders (hypocrites)! Admirably and truly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said:

⁸ These people draw near Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me.

⁹ Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men.^(B)

¹⁰ And Jesus called the people to Him and said to them, Listen and grasp and comprehend this:

¹¹ It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him].

¹² Then the disciples came and said to Him, Do You know that the Pharisees were displeased and offended and indignant when they heard this saying?

¹³ He answered, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be torn up by the roots.^(C)

¹⁴ Let them alone and disregard them; they are blind guides and teachers. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch.

¹⁵ But Peter said to Him, Explain this ^[a]proverb (this ^[b]maxim) to us.

¹⁶ And He said, Are you also even yet dull and ignorant [without understanding and ^[c]unable to put things together]?

¹⁷ Do you not see and understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the ^[d]abdomen and so passes on into the place where discharges are deposited?

¹⁸ But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what makes a man unclean and defiles [him].

¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech.

²⁰ These are what make a man unclean and defile [him]; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean or defile [him].

²¹ And going away from there, Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

²² And behold, a woman who was a Canaanite from that district came out and, with a [loud, troublesomely urgent] cry, begged, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is miserably and distressingly and cruelly possessed by a demon!

²³ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us.

²⁴ He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

²⁵ But she came and, kneeling, worshiped Him and kept praying, Lord, help me!

²⁶ And He answered, It is not right (proper, becoming, or fair) to take the children’s bread and throw it to the ^[e]little dogs.

²⁷ She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little pups (^[f]little whelps) eat the crumbs that fall from their [young] masters’ table.

²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you wish. And her daughter was cured from that ^[g]moment.

²⁹ And Jesus went on from there and passed along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up into the hills and kept sitting there.

³⁰ And a great multitude came to Him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them down at His feet; and He cured them,

³¹ So that the crowd was amazed when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^[h]recognized and praised and thanked and glorified the God of Israel.

³² Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, I have pity and sympathy and am deeply moved for the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and they have nothing [at all left] to eat; and I am not willing to send them away hungry, lest they faint or become exhausted on the way.

³³ And the disciples said to Him, Where are we to get bread sufficient to feed so great a crowd in this isolated and desert place?

³⁴ And Jesus asked them, How many loaves of bread do you have? They replied, Seven, and a few small fish.

³⁵ And ordering the crowd to recline on the ground,

³⁶ He took the seven loaves and the fish, and when He had given thanks, He broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied. And they gathered up seven [^[i]large provision] baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.

³⁸ Those who ate were 4,000 men, not including the women and the children.

³⁹ Then He dismissed the crowds, got into the boat, and went to the district of Magadan.

16 Now the Pharisees and Sadducees came up to Jesus, and they asked Him to show them a sign (spectacular miracle) from heaven [attesting His divine authority].

² He replied to them, ^[a]When it is evening you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,

³ And in the morning, It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and has a gloomy and threatening look. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

⁴ A wicked and morally unfaithful generation craves a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Then He left them and went away.^(A)

⁵ When the disciples reached the other side of the sea, they found that they had forgotten to bring any bread.

⁶ Jesus said to them, Be careful and on your guard against the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

⁷ And they reasoned among themselves about it, saying, It is because we did not bring any bread.

⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, asked, Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? O you [men, how little trust you have in Me, how] little faith!

⁹ Do you not yet discern (perceive and understand)? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many [^[b]small hand] baskets you gathered?

¹⁰ Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many [^[c]large provision] baskets you took up?

¹¹ How is it that you fail to understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But beware of the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹² Then they discerned that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

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3 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the back or west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb or Sinai, the mountain of God.

² The ^[a]Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, yet was not consumed.

³ And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.

⁴ And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here am I.

⁵ God said, Do not come near; put your shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.

⁶ Also He said, 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 he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters and oppressors; for I know their sorrows and sufferings and trials.

⁸ And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand and power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]—to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

⁹ Now behold, the cry of the Israelites has come to Me, and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

¹⁰ Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

¹¹ And Moses said to God, ^[b]Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

¹² God said, I will surely be with you; and this shall be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain [Horeb, or Sinai].

¹³ And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the Israelites 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 What I Am, and I Will Be What I Will Be; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I Am has sent me to you!

¹⁵ God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is My ^[c]name forever, and by this name I am to be remembered to all generations.

¹⁶ Go, gather the elders of Israel together [the mature teachers and tribal leaders], and say to them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;

¹⁷ And I have declared that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁸ And [the elders] shall believe and obey your voice; and you shall go, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now let us go, we beseech you, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.

¹⁹ And I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go [unless forced to do so], no, not by a mighty hand.

²⁰ So I will stretch out My hand and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in it; and after that he will let you go.

²¹ And I will give this people favor and respect in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.

²² But every woman shall [insistently] solicit of her neighbor and of her that may be residing at her house jewels and articles of silver and gold, and garments, which you shall put on your sons and daughters; and you shall strip the Egyptians [of belongings due to you].

4 And Moses answered, ^[d]But behold, they will not believe me or listen to and obey my voice; for they will say, The Lord has not appeared to you.

² And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.

³ And He said, Cast it on the ground. And he did so and it became a serpent [the symbol of royal and divine power worn on the crown of the Pharaohs]; and Moses fled from before it.

⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, Put forth your hand and take it by the tail. And he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand,

⁵ [This you shall do, said the Lord] that the elders may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has indeed appeared to you.

⁶ The Lord said also to him, Put your hand into your bosom. He put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.

⁷ [God] said, Put your hand into your bosom again. So he put his hand back into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored as the rest of his flesh.

⁸ [Then God said] If they will not believe you or heed the voice or the testimony of the first sign, they may believe the voice or the witness of the second sign.

⁹ But if they will also not believe these two signs or heed your voice, you shall take some water of the river [Nile] and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which you take out of the river [Nile] shall become blood on the dry land.

¹⁰ And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not eloquent or a man of words, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and have a heavy and awkward tongue.

¹¹ And the Lord said to him, Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the dumb, or the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall say.

¹³ And he said, Oh, my Lord, I pray You, send by the hand of [some other] whom You will [send].

¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord blazed against Moses; He said, Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know he can speak well. Also, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be overjoyed.

¹⁵ You must speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do.

¹⁶ He shall speak for you to the people, acting as a mouthpiece for you, and you shall be as God to him.

¹⁷ And you shall take this rod in your hand with which you shall work the signs [that prove I sent you].

¹⁸ And Moses went away and, returning to Jethro his father-in-law, said to him, Let me go back, I pray you, to my relatives in Egypt to see whether they are still alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt; for all the men who were seeking your life [for killing the Egyptian] are dead.^(A)

²⁰ And Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on donkeys, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, When you return into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all those miracles and wonders which I have put in your hand; but I will make him stubborn and harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

²² And you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is My son, even My firstborn.

²³ And I say to you, Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your son, your firstborn.

²⁴ Along the way at a [resting-] place, the Lord met [Moses] and sought to kill him [made him acutely and almost fatally ill].

²⁵ [Now apparently he had ^[e]failed to circumcise one of his sons, his wife being opposed to it; but seeing his life in such danger] Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it to touch [Moses’] feet, and said, Surely a husband of blood you are to me!

²⁶ When He let [Moses] alone [to recover], Zipporah said, A husband of blood are you because of the circumcision.

²⁷ The Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mountain of God [Horeb, or Sinai] and kissed him.

²⁸ Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and all the signs with which He had charged him.

²⁹ Moses and Aaron went and gathered together [in Egypt] all the elders of the Israelites.

³⁰ Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

³¹ And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the Israelites, and that He had looked [in compassion] upon their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.

² But Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.

³ And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.

⁴ The king of Egypt said to Moses and Aaron, Why do you take the people from their jobs? Get to your burdens!

⁵ Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and you make them rest from their burdens!

⁶ The very same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers,

⁷ You shall no more give the people straw to make brick; let them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸ But the number of the bricks which they made before you shall still require of them; you shall not diminish it in the least. For they are idle; that is why they cry, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

⁹ Let heavier work be laid upon the men that they may labor at it and pay no attention to lying words.

¹⁰ The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they said to the people, Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.

¹¹ Go, get ^[f]straw where you can find it; but your work shall not be diminished in the least.

¹² So the people were scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather the short stubble instead of straw.

¹³ And the taskmasters were urgent, saying, Finish your work, your daily quotas, as when there was straw.

¹⁴ And the Hebrew foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, Why have you not fulfilled all your quota of making bricks yesterday and today, as before?

¹⁵ Then the Hebrew foremen came to Pharaoh and cried, Why do you deal like this with your servants?

¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, Make bricks! And behold, your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.

¹⁷ But [Pharaoh] said, You are idle, lazy and idle! That is why you say, Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.

¹⁸ Get out now and get to work; for no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the full quota of bricks.

¹⁹ And the Hebrew foremen saw that they were in an evil situation when it was said, You shall not diminish in the least your full daily quota of bricks.

²⁰ And the foremen met Moses and Aaron, who were standing in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh.

²¹ And the foremen said to them, The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made us a rotten stench to be detested by Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to slay us.

²² Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, O Lord, why have You dealt evil to this people? Why did You ever send 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.