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The Birth of Moses
Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman,
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The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
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Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
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Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”
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Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
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Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
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Manna and Quail
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
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The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.
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Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”
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So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”
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As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved.
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The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
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and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish.
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If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
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“If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.
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“If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible.
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If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.
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Social Responsibility
“If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife.
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Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’”
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Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more,
