Joseph collected the surplus food throughout the land of Egypt, storing food in cities; that is, he gathered the food from fields that surrounded every city and stored it there.

the seven years of famine started, just as Joseph had predicted. It was an international famine, but there was food everywhere throughout the land of Egypt.

Eventually, Jacob observed that there was grain in Egypt, so he asked his sons, "Why do you keep on staring at one another?

Pay attention now! I've heard that there is grain in Egypt, so go down there and buy some grain for us, so we can live, instead of dying."

Then they each mounted up, their donkeys having been loaded with grain, and left from there.

Later on, one of them opened up his sack to give his donkey some fodder after they had stopped at the place where they intended to lodge for the night. There, in the mouth of his sack, was all of his money!

After all, if we hadn't delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!"

when we arrived at our overnight lodging place, we opened our sacks and discovered each man's money was still in the mouth of his sack. All of our money was there! We've brought it back with us in full.

Then off he went to prepare the honorary meal that was to be made ready for Joseph's arrival at noon, since they had been informed that they were going to be eating there.

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,

The palace manager searched for the cup, beginning with the oldest brother's sack and ending with the youngest brother's sack, and there it was! in Benjamin's sack.

"But we told him, "We can't go back there. If our youngest brother accompanies us, we'll go back, but we cannot see the man's face again unless our youngest brother accompanies 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.

I'll provide for you there, since there are still five years of famine left to go, and you, your households, and everything you own would have otherwise become impoverished.

"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.

"Your servants are shepherds," they replied, "both we and our ancestors. We've come to live for a while in this region, since there is no pasture back in Canaan for your servants' flocks. May your servants please live in the Goshen territory?"

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.

The following year, they came to him and reminded him, "We won't hide from you, your Excellency, that we've spent all of our money, and that our livestock all belong to you. There's nothing left to trade with you, your Excellency, except our bodies and our territories.

Israel remained in Egypt's Goshen territory, acquired land there, became prosperous, and his descendants grew very numerous.

"Now as for me, Rachel died after I arrived in Canaan from Paddan, much to my sorrow. While I was on my journey to Ephrathah (also known as Bethlehem), I buried her there."

Chariots and horsemen also accompanied Joseph, so there were a lot of people.

so I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do there. After that he will release you.

Then the LORD was angry with Moses and said, "There's your brother Aaron, a descendant of Levi, isn't there? I know that he certainly is eloquent. Right now he's coming to meet you and he will be pleased to see you.

As they left Pharaoh's presence, they met Moses and Aaron standing there.

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.

The LORD also told Moses, "Tell Aaron, "Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their Nile River, over their ponds, and over their reservoirs, and they'll become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in their wood and stone containers.'"

Moses said, "It will be just as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. The frogs will leave you, your house, your officials, and your people. They'll remain only in the Nile River."

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, just as the LORD had predicted.

On that day I'll treat the land of Goshen where my people live differently so that swarms of insects won't be there. As a result, you will know that I the LORD am in the midst of the land.

Indeed, this time I'm sending all my plagues against you, your officials, and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people, animals, and all the vegetation of the field throughout the land of Egypt."

There was very heavy hail, and lightning was flashing continuously in the midst of the hail. There had not been anything like it in the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelis were, was there no hail.

Pray to the LORD! There has been enough of God's thunder and hail! I'll let you go, and you need not stay any longer."

The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on all the territory of Egypt in great swarms. There had never been locusts like this before nor would there ever be again.

Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch your hand toward the sky and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that one can feel."

So Moses stretched his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.

No one could see anyone else, nor could anyone get up from his place for three days. But there was light for all the Israelis in their dwellings.

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."

There will be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt, like there has never been and never will be again.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. I'll see the blood and pass over you. There will be no plague to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

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.

You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the LORD.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelis looked up, and there were the Egyptians bearing down on them! Extremely frightened, the Israelis cried out to the LORD.

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?

coming between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. The cloud remained there even in the darkness, illuminating the night, so that the one side did not come near the other all night.

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."

Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and 70 palm trees, and they camped there by the water.

While Aaron was speaking to all the congregation of the Israelis, they turned toward the desert, and there the glory of the LORD was seen in the cloud.

Later that evening quail came up and covered the camp, and then in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

So they put it away until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not smell bad, and there were no maggots in it.

For six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there won't be any."

The whole congregation of the Israelis set out from the desert of Sin, traveling from place to place according to the command of the LORD. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

But the people were thirsty there for water, so they complained against Moses: "Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?"

I'll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock and water will come out of it, so the people can drink." Moses did this in front of the elders of Israel.

They had set out from Rephidim and arrived at the desert of Sinai where they camped in the desert. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

When morning came on the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and the very loud sound of a ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.

"If two men are fighting and they strike a pregnant woman and her children are born prematurely, but there is no harm, he is certainly to be fined as the husband of the woman demands of him, and he will pay as the court decides.

If there is harm, then you are to require life for life,

Then the LORD told Moses, "Go up to me on the mountain and stay there. I'll give you stone tablets with the instruction and law that I've written to teach the people."

I'll meet with you there, and I'll tell you all my commandments for the Israelis from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the Ark of the Testimony."

"On the lamp stand itself there are to be four cups shaped like almond blossoms with their calyxes and flowers.

There is to be eight boards with their sixteen silver sockets, two sockets under one board and two sockets under the next board.

You are to hang the curtain from the clasps and bring the Ark of the Testimony there inside the curtain. The curtain is to separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

"You are to make the court of the tent. On the south side there is to be hangings of fine woven linen for the court, 100 cubits long on one side.

Likewise for the length of the north side there are to be hangings 100 cubits long, and it is to have 20 pillars with 20 bronze sockets, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands are to be made of silver.

"For the second section there are to be hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three sockets.

There is to be a screen of 20 cubits of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine woven linen, the work of an embroiderer, for the gate of the court, and it is to have four pillars and four sockets.

There is to be an opening at its top, in the middle, with a woven binding around the opening like the opening of a coat of mail so that it cannot be torn.

and there is to be a tenth measure of choice flour mixed with one fourth of a hin of oil extracted by hand, and one fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering for one lamb.

It is to be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway to the Tent of Meeting in the LORD's presence, where I'll meet with you to speak to you there.

I'll meet there with the Israelis, and it is to be consecrated bymy glory.

"When you take a census of the Israelis to register them, each is to give a ransom for himself to the LORD when they're registered so there won't be a plague among them when they're registered.

The LORD said, "Look, there is a place near me where you can stand on the rock;

Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning on Mount Sinai, where you are to present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain.

The LORD came down in a cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

While Moses was there with the LORD for 40 days and 40 nights, he did not eat or drink. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.

There were eight boards with their sixteen silver sockets, two sockets under each board.

On the lamp stand itself there were four cups shaped like almond blossoms each with their calyxes and flowers.

For the west side there were hangings 50 cubits long with their ten pillars and ten sockets. The hooks of the pillars and their bands were made of silver.

There was a bell and a pomegranate, then a bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe for when the High Priest ministered, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

You are to put the Ark of the Testimony there, and screen off the ark with the curtain.

Then he told Aaron and his sons, "Boil the meat at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. You may eat it there, along with the bread that is in the basket for consecration, just as I've commanded when I told him, "Aaron and his sons may eat of it,

in place of the boil there remains a white swelling or a bright, white-reddish spot, he is to present himself to the priest.

If the priest undertakes an examination, but there's no white hair in it and it's not more extensive than skin deep, but it's dull, then the priest is to isolate him for seven days.

But if the priest examines it and discovers that there's no bright area or white hair, or if he discovers that it's not more extensive than skin deep and it's dull, then the priest is to isolate him for seven days.

But when the priest examines the scales of the skin rash and it doesn't appear more extensive than skin deep and there's no black hair in it, then the priest is to isolate him for seven days.

When the priest examines the skin rash on the seventh day and finds that indeed the scab did not spread, there's no yellowish hair on it, and the scales don't appear more extensive than skin deep,

when the priest examines it and finds that there is a light or dull white patch of skin on the body, it's a harmless skin eruption that has spread on the skin. The person is clean."

But when in the baldness of his head or his forehead there develops a skin rash that's white or reddish, it's an infectious skin disease that has spread to his bald head or forehead.

then the owner of the house is to approach the priest and tell him, "There appears to be a contagion in the house.'

"No person is to be there when he enters the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the sacred place, until he comes out and has made atonement on account of himself, his household, and the entire assembly of Israel.

"Then Aaron is to enter the Tent of Meeting, take off his white linen clothes that he had put on when he entered the sacred place, and leave them there.

"When a person has sexual relations with a woman servant who is engaged to another man, but she has not been completely redeemed nor has her freedom been granted to her, there is to be an inquiry, but they won't be put to death, since she has not been freed.

"If a man takes a wife along with her mother, that's wickedness. They are to be burned with fire that is, both him and them, so that there will be no wickedness in your midst.

If there are still many years left, he is to refund the cost of his redemption.

Then they are to put all the instruments with which they minister there trays, forks, shovels, bowls, and all the utensils of the altar. They are to spread over it a leather-dyed skin covering and then insert its poles.

a man has sexual relations with her and she conceals it from her husband, keeping it secret although she has defiled herself with there being no witnesses against her, but she was caught anyway.

I've set the descendants of Levi apart from the Israelis so that Aaron and his sons would work in service at the appointed place of meeting, making atonement on behalf of the Israelis so that there won't be a plague among the Israelis whenever they approach the sanctuary."

But there were men who couldn't observe the Passover that day because they had come in contact with a corpse. That very day, they approached Moses and Aaron