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."

They left Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the desert.

The LORD went in front of them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel both day and night.

"Tell the Israelis that they are to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it by the sea.

Pharaoh will say about the Israelis, "They're wandering aimlessly in the land, and the desert has closed in on them.'

And I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and he will chase after them, and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and through all his army, and [the] Egyptians will know that I [am] Yahweh." And they did so.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials changed toward the people, and they said, "What have we done in releasing Israel from serving us?"

The LORD made the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, stubborn, and he defiantly pursued the Israelis as they were leaving.

The Egyptians pursued them all the chariot-horses of Pharaoh, along with his horsemen and army and they overtook them camped by the sea, near Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal Zephon.

And Pharaoh approached, and the {Israelites} lifted their eyes, and there were the Egyptians traveling after them! And they were very afraid, and the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh.

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?

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the {Israelites} [so that] they set out.

Even now I'm hardening the heart of the Egyptians so they'll go after the Israelis. Then I'll receive honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.

And it came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel; and there was a dark cloud between them, and they went on through the night; but the one army came no nearer to the other all the night.

The Egyptians pursued all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen and they went into the middle of the sea after them.

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."

When Israel saw the great force by which the LORD had acted against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed the LORD and Moses his servant.

Then Moses and the {Israelites} sang this song to Yahweh, {and they said}, "Let me sing to Yahweh because he is highly exalted; [the] horse and its rider he hurled into the sea.

The deep covered them, they went down into the depths like a rock.

When you are lifted up in power, all those who come against you are crushed: when you send out your wrath, they are burned up like dry grass.

"You blew with your breath, and the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty water.

"The people heard and they quaked, anguish has seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

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.

Then Moses led Israel from the Reed Sea and they went to the desert of Shur. They traveled into the desert for three days and did not find water.

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

And Moses cried unto the LORD, and he showed him a tree: and he cast it into the water, and they waxed sweet. There he made them an ordinance and a law, and there he tempted them,

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

Later, they left Elim, and the whole congregation of the Israelis came to the desert of Sin, which lay between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.

The LORD told Moses, "Listen very carefully! I'll cause food to rain down for you from heaven, and the people are to go out and gather each day's portion on that day. In this way I'll test them to demonstrate whether or not they'll live according to my instructions.

On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be double what they gather on other days."

And at the moment of Aaron's speaking to all the community of the {Israelites}, they turned to the desert, {and just then} the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud.

"I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, tell them therefore and say that at evening they shall eat flesh, and in the morning they shall be filled with bread, and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God."

And at evening the quails came and covered the ground where they lay. And in the morning the dew lay round about the host.

And the {Israelites} saw, and they said {to each other}, "What [is] this?" because they did not know what it [was]. And Moses said to them, "That [is] the bread that Yahweh has given to you as food.

And the {Israelites} did so, and they gathered, some more and some less.

And [when] they measured with the omer, the one gathering more had no surplus, and the one gathering less had no lack; they gathered {each according to what he could eat}.

But they did not listen to Moses. Some people left [some] of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

And they gathered it morning by morning, {each according to what he could eat}, and it melted [when] the sun was hot.

And when it was the sixth day, they gathered twice [as much] bread, two omers for one [person], and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses.

And they put it aside until the morning, as Moses had commanded, and it did not make a stench, and not a maggot was in it.

And on the seventh day [some] of the people went out to gather, and they did not find [any].

And Moses said, "This is the word that Yahweh has commanded. 'A full omer of it [is] for safekeeping for your generations so that they will see the bread that I fed you in the desert when I brought you from the land of Egypt.'"

And the {Israelites} ate the manna forty years, until their coming to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until their coming to the border of the land of Canaan.

And all the community of the {Israelites} set out from the desert of Sin for their journeys according to the command of Yahweh, and they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

And the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, "Give us water so that we can drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?"

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?"

And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, "What will I do with this people? A little longer and they will stone me."

And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and they rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go.

And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

But the hands of Moses [were] heavy, and they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sat on it; Aaron and Hur supported his hands, {one on each side}, and his hands [were] steady until {sundown}.

And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed, and he kissed him, and {they each asked about the other's welfare}, and they came into the tent.

Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians on Israel's behalf, all the hardships that they had encountered along the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.

Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods, {even in the matter where they the Egyptians dealt arrogantly against the Israelites}."

The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening.

When {they have an issue}, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known God's rule and his instructions."

And you warn them [of] the rules and the instructions, and you make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work that they must do.

And let them judge the people all the time, {and} every major issue they will bring to you, and every minor issue they will judge themselves. And [so] lighten [it] for yourself, and they will bear [it] with you.

And they judged the people all the time; the difficult issues they would bring to Moses, and every minor issue they would judge themselves.

In the third month after the {Israelites} went out from the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the Sinai desert.

They set out from Rephidim, and they came to the desert of Sinai, and they camped in the desert, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

Then said Yahweh unto Moses: Lo! I, am coming unto thee in the veiling of cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with thee, moreover also, that, in thee, they may trust to times age-abiding. Then told Moses the words of the people unto Yahweh.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes,

and they must be prepared for the third day, because on the third day, Yahweh will go down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people.

Not a hand will touch it, because he will certainly be stoned or certainly be shot; whether an animal or a man, he will not live.' At the blowing of the ram's horn they may go up to the mountain."

And Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and he consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes.

And Moses brought the people out from the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to see and many from them fall.

And Yahweh said unto him - Away, down, then shalt thou come up, thou and Aaron with thee, - but as for the priests and the people, let it not be that they press through to come up unto Yahweh lest he break in upon them.

And all the people [were] seeing the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the ram's horn and the mountain smoking, and the people saw, and they trembled, and they stood at a distance.

And they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will listen, but let not God speak with us, lest we die."

"If a man smite his servant or his maid with a staff that they die under his hand, it shall be avenged.

But and if they continue a day or two, it shall not be avenged for they are his money.

"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 an ox gores a man or woman so that they die, the ox is certainly to be stoned and its flesh may not be eaten, but the owner of the ox is free from liability.

"If a man's ox strikes his neighbor's ox and it dies, they are to sell the live ox and divide the money. They also are to divide the dead animal.

"When a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed over or releases his livestock so that they graze in another man's field, he is to make restitution from the best of his field or vineyard.

“When a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep, but they are stolen from that person’s house, the thief, if caught, must repay double.

If they do not get the thief, let the master of the house come before the judges and take an oath that he has not put his hand on his neighbour's goods.

For every offense involving property, whether it concerns ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or any piece of lost property, which another identifies as his, the case of both parties shall come before the judges [who act in God’s name]. Whomever the judges pronounce guilty shall pay double to his neighbor.

If you do mistreat them, they'll certainly cry out to me, and I'll immediately hear their cry.

Thy fruits, whether they be dry or moist, see thou keep not back. Thy firstborn son thou shalt give me:

You are to do the same with your oxen and your sheep. They shall be with their mother for seven days and then on the eighth day you are to give them to me.

but you are to let it rest the seventh year, leaving it unplanted. The poor of your people may eat from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. You are to do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.

“Pay strict attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

The festival of unleavened cakes, shalt thou keep, - seven days, shalt thou eat unleavened cakes, as I commanded thee at the appointed time of the month Abib; for, therein, camest thou forth out of Egypt, - and they shall not see my face, empty-handed.

And my angel will go before you, guiding you into the land of the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, and they will be cut off by my hand.

Do not go down on your faces and give worship to their gods, or do as they do; but overcome them completely, and let their pillars be broken down.

My terror, will I send before thee, and will confound all the people amongst whom thou shalt come, and will deliver up all thine enemies unto thee as they flee.

I'll send hornets ahead of you and they'll drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you.

They will not live in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me when you serve their gods, for it will be a snare to you.'"

And Moses {alone} will come near to Yahweh, and they will not come near, and the people will not go up with him."

And Moses came, and he told the people all the words of Yahweh and all the regulations. And all the people answered with one voice, and they said, "All the words that Yahweh has spoken we will do."

And he sent young men from the {Israelites}, and they offered burnt offerings, and they sacrificed sacrifices [as] fellowship offerings to Yahweh [using] bulls.

And he took the scroll of the covenant and read [it] in the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that Yahweh has spoken we will do, and we will listen."

And they saw the God of Israel, and [what was] under his feet [was] like sapphire tile work and like the very heavens for clearness.

And toward the leaders of the {Israelites} he did not stretch out his hand, and they beheld God, and they ate, and they drank.

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.

And they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

"And they will make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width and a cubit and a half its height.

The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be removed from it.