who could see that the LORD was with Joseph, because the LORD made everything prosper that Joseph did.

From the time he appointed Joseph to be overseer over his entire household and everything that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The LORD's blessing rested on Joseph, whether in Potiphar's household or in Potiphar's fields.

No one has more authority in this house than I do. He has withheld nothing from me, except you, and that's because you're his wife. So how can I commit such a horrible evil? How can I sin against God?"

The prison warden did not have to worry about anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with him. That's why Joseph prospered in everything he did.

because I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. Not only that, I haven't done anything that deserves me being confined to this pit."

Not only that," Pharaoh continued, "after they had finished devouring the cows, nobody could tell that they had gobbled them up, because they were just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.

there will be no surplus in the land due to the coming famine, because it will be very severe.

Joseph stored up so much grain like sand on the seashore in so much abundance! that he stopped keeping records because it was proving to be impossible to measure how much they were gathering.

Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh because, he said, "God has made me forget all of my hard life and my father's house."

He named his second son Ephraim because, he said, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my troubles."

Joseph opened all of the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, because the famine was beginning to be severe throughout the land of Egypt.

In addition, all of the surrounding nations came to Joseph to buy grain from Egypt, because the famine had become severe throughout the world.

Jacob would not send Joseph's brother Benjamin to accompany them, because he was saying, "I'm afraid that he'll come to some kind of harm."

Israel's sons went in a caravan that included others who were going to Egypt to buy grain, because the famine pervaded the land of Canaan, too.

"We're all guilty because of what we did to our brother!" they told each other. "We kept on watching his suffering while he pleaded with us! We're in this mess because we wouldn't listen!"

But if you don't send him, we're not going, because the man told us, "You'll never see my face unless your brother is with you.'"

As soon as Joseph noticed that Benjamin had come with them, he ordered his palace manager, "Bring the men into the palace. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, because these men will be dining with me for lunch."

The men were terrified as they were being taken to Joseph's palace. "It's because of that money that was returned to our sacks the first time we were brought to him," they reasoned. "He's seeking an excuse to attack us, enslave us, and confiscate our donkeys!"

At this, Joseph hurried out, deeply moved because of his brother, and looked for a place to weep by himself. He entered his personal quarters, wept there awhile,

Joseph's staff served him by himself, his brothers separately, and the Egyptian staff members by themselves, because the Egyptians wouldn't take their meal with the Hebrews, since doing so was detestable for the Egyptians.

So we told Your Excellency, "The young man cannot leave his father, because if he were to do so, his father would die.'

Joseph blurted out, "I'm Joseph! Is my father really alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, because they had become terrified to be in his presence.

"I'm your brother Joseph, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt!" he told them. "But don't be distressed or angry at yourselves because you sold me here, because God sent me ahead of you all in order to deliver us.

That's because this famine has been going on for two years now in this region, and there are still five years left, during which there won't be any plowing or harvesting.

Don't worry about your household goods, because the best of all the land of Egypt is yours."

where they informed their father, "Joseph is still alive! As a matter of fact, he's ruling the entire land of Egypt." But Jacob didn't believe them, because he had become cynical.

"I'm God, your father's God. Don't be afraid to move down to Egypt, because I'm going to turn you into a mighty nation there.

I'll mention that the men are shepherds. Because they've been taking care of livestock, they brought along their flocks, their herds, and everything else that they own.

Meanwhile, there continued to be no food throughout the land, because the famine remained very severe. As a result, both Egypt and Canaan languished under the effects of the famine.

So Joseph purchased all of the Egyptian territory for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine's effect was so severe. That's how Pharaoh came to own the land.

However, he did not purchase land belonging to the priests, because the priests held an allotment, previously provided to them by Pharaoh, from which they lived. That's why they did not sell their land.

Now Israel's eyesight had become poor from age. Because he couldn't see well, Joseph brought them close to him, and Israel kissed them both and embraced them.

But you're as undisciplined as a roaring river, so eventually you won't succeed, because you got in your father's bed, defiled it, and then approached my couch."

Their anger is cursed, because it is so fierce, as is their vehemence, because it is so cruel. I will separate them throughout Jacob's territory and disperse them throughout Israel."

"Before he died, your father left some instructions. He told us, "Tell Joseph, "Please forgive your brothers' offenses. I beg you, forgive their sins, because they wronged you."' So please forgive the transgression of the servants of your father's God."

So Joseph made all of Israel's other children make this promise: "Because God is certainly going to take care of you, you are to carry my bones up from here."

Because the midwives feared God, he provided families for them.

After the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, because she said, "I drew him out of the water."

Later she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, because he used to say, "I became an alien in a foreign land."

The king of Egypt eventually died, and the Israelis groaned because of the bondage. They cried out, and their cry for deliverance from slavery ascended to God.

"Do not come any closer," God said. "Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground."

Then he said, "I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The LORD told Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' feet with it, saying while doing so, ""because you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

Then the LORD withdrew from him, and she said, ""a bridegroom of blood because of circumcision."

But you're to impose the previous quota of bricks that they're making. You're not to reduce it! It is because they're lazy that they're crying out, "Let's go offer sacrifices to our God.'

Then Moses reported this to the Israelis, but they did not listen to Moses due to their irritation and impatience because there was no deliverance and because of the cruel bondage.

All the Egyptians dug around the Nile River for water to drink because they could not drink from the water in the Nile River.

The LORD did this, and dense swarms of insects came into the house of Pharaoh and into the houses of his servants. The land was ruined throughout Egypt because of the swarms of insects.

"It wouldn't be right to sacrifice in this way," Moses replied, "because if we do, we will sacrifice to the LORD our God what is offensive to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are offensive to the Egyptians in front of them, they'll stone us, won't they?

The magicians were not able to stand before Moses because of the boils, because the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

So send for your livestock and everything that belongs to you that's out in the field, because every person and animal found in the field that has not been brought inside to shelters will die when the hail comes down on them."'"

(Now the flax and the barley were ruined because the barley was in ear and the flax was in bud.

The wheat and the wild grainwere not ruined because they were late crops.)

Moses said, "We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and our daughters, with our sheep and our cattle, because it's a festival to the LORD for us."

And even our livestock must go with us. Not a hoof will be left behind because we will use some of them to serve the LORD our God, and until we get there we won't know what we need to serve the LORD."

Then Pharaoh told him, "Get away from me! Watch out that you never see my face again, because on the day you see my face, you will die!"

You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day be sure to remove all the leaven from your houses, because any person who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh will be cut off from Israel.

because the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway, and won't allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.

Pharaoh got up during the night, he, all his officials, and all the Egyptians, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, because there was not a house without someone dead in it.

The Egyptian officials urged the people to send them out of the land quickly, because they were saying, "We'll all be dead!"

They baked the dough that they brought out of Egypt into thin cakes of unleavened bread. It had not been leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

Then Moses told the people, "Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, from the house of bondage, because the LORD brought you out from this place with a strong show of force. Moreover, nothing leavened is to be eaten.

And you are to tell your child on that day, "This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'

It is to be a sign on your hand and an emblem on your forehead, because the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong show of force.'"

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearer, because God had said, "If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt."

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelis take this solemn oath: "God will certainly take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones up with you from here."

They also told Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us out to die in the desert? What have you done to us, by bringing us out of Egypt?

Moses told the people, "Don't be afraid! Stand still and watch how the LORD will deliver you today, because you will never again see the Egyptians whom you're looking at today.

He made the wheels of their chariots wobble so that they drove them with difficulty. The Egyptians said, "Let's flee from Israel because the LORD is fighting for them and against us."

Dread and fear have fallen on them, because of the strength of your arm. They have become silent as a stone, until your people pass by, LORD, until this people you acquired pass by.

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter. (That is why it's called Marah.)

There the LORD presented to them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them. He said, "If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what he sees to be right, listen to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then I won't inflict on you all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, because I am the LORD your healer."

The Israelis told them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt when we sat by the cooking pots, when we ate bread until we were filled because you brought us to this desert to kill this entire congregation with hunger."

and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaints against him. After all, who are we that you complain against us?"

Then Moses instructed Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the Israelis, "Come near into the LORD's presence, because he has heard your complaints.'"

When the Israelis saw it, they asked one another, "What is it?", because they did not know what it was.

He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelis quarreled and tested the LORD by saying: "Is the LORD really among us or not?"

"Because," he said, "a fist has been raised in defiance against the throne of the LORD, the LORD will wage war against Amalek from generation to generation."

along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom, because he uwould say, "I was an alien in a foreign land,"

while the name of the other was Eliezer, because he would say, "My father's God helped me and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword."

Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, because of what happened to the Egyptians when they acted arrogantly against Israel."

Moses told his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will.

You will certainly wear yourself out, both you and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot do it by yourself.

And now if you carefully obey me and keep my covenant, you are to be my special possession out of all the nations, because the whole earth belongs to me,

Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the LORD had come down in fire on it. Smoke went up from it like smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

Moses told the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai because you warned us: "Set boundaries around the mountain and consecrate it.'"

You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the guilt of parents on children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

"You are not to misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave unpunished the one who misuses his name.

because the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days. Then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

If you make an altar of stone for me, you must not build it of cut stones, because if you strike it with your chisel, you will profane it.

If she's displeasing to her master who selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He does not have the right to sell her to foreign people, because he has dealt unfairly with her.

But if the servant survives a day or two, the master is not to be punished because the servant is his property.

"You are not to wrong or oppress an alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Stay far away from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent or the righteous, because I won't acquit the guilty.

You are not to take a bribe because a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and distorts the words of the righteous.

You are not to oppress the resident alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt."

You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month Abib, because in it you came out of Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty handed.

Be careful! Be sure to obey him. Don't rebel against him, because he won't forgive your transgression, since my Name is in him.

because my angel will go ahead of you and will bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I'll annihilate them.