And {all those who descended from Jacob} were seventy individuals, and Joseph was in Egypt.

Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, lest they become many, and when war happens, they also will join our enemies and will fight against us and go up from the land."

And they appointed commanders of forced labor over them in order to oppress them with their {forced labor}, and they built storage cities for Pharaoh--Pithom and Rameses.

And they made their lives bitter with hard work with mortar and with bricks and with all [sorts] of work in the field--with all their work in which they ruthlessly enslaved them.

And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives--of whom the name of the one [was] Shiphrah and the name of the second [was] Puah--

and he said, "When you help the Hebrews give birth, you will look upon the pairs of testicles; if he [is] a son, you will put him to death, and if she [is] a daughter, she will live."

But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him, and she coated it with tar and with pitch, and she placed the boy in it, and she placed [it] among the reeds on the bank of the Nile.

And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to wash at the Nile, [while] her maidservants were walking alongside the Nile, and she saw the basket in the midst of the reeds, and she sent her slave woman [for it] and took it

{And then} in those days when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers, and he saw their {forced labor}, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, [one of] his brothers.

And he turned here and there, and he saw no one, and he struck the Egyptian, and he hid him in the sand.

And he went out on the second day, and there were two Hebrew men fighting, and he said to the guilty [one], "Why do you strike your neighbor?"

And Pharaoh heard this matter, and he sought to kill Moses, and Moses fled from Pharaoh, and he lived in the land of Midian, and he lived at {a certain well}.

And they said, "An Egyptian man delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he even drew [water] for us and watered the flock."

And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom because he said, "I am an alien in a foreign land."

And Moses was a shepherd with the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the west [of] the desert, and he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.

And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and there was the bush burning with fire, but the bush was not being consumed.

And he said, "You must not come near to here. Take off your sandals from on your feet, because the place on which you [are] standing, it [is] holy ground."

And Yahweh said, "Surely I have seen the misery of my people who [are] in Egypt, and I have heard their cry of distress because of their oppressors, for I know their sufferings.

And he said, "Because I am with you, and this [will be] the sign for you that I myself have sent you: When you bring the people out from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain."

Go and gather the elders of Israel and say to them, 'Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, appeared to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, "I have carefully attended to you and what has been done to you in Egypt."

And they will listen to your voice, and you will go, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews has met with us, and now let us please go [on] a journey of three days into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God.'

And I will stretch out my hand, and I will strike Egypt with all of my wonders that I will do in its midst, and {afterward} he will release you.

And I will give this people favor in the eyes of [the] Egyptians, {and then} when you go, you will not go empty-handed.

And a woman will ask from her neighbor and from the woman dwelling as an alien in her house [for] objects of silver and objects of gold and garments, and you will put [them] on your sons and on your daughters; and you will plunder Egypt."

And Yahweh said to him, "What [is] this in your hand?" And he said, "A staff."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and grasp [it] by its tail"--" (And he reached out his hand and grabbed it, and it became a staff in his palm.)--

{And} if they also do not believe the second of these signs and they will not listen to your voice, [then] you must take water from the Nile and pour [it] onto the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."

And Moses said to Yahweh, "Please, Lord, I [am] not a man of words, {neither recently nor in the past nor since your speaking} to your servant, because I [am] heavy of mouth and of tongue."

{And Yahweh was angry with} Moses and said, "[Is there] not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he certainly can speak, and also there he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart.

And you will speak to him, and you will put words in his mouth, and I myself will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you must do.

And you must take this staff in your hand, with which you will do the signs."

And Moses went, and he returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and he said to him, "Please let me go, and let me return to my brothers who [are] in Egypt, and let me see whether they [are] yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

And Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return to Egypt because all the men have died who [were] seeking your life."

And Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on the donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "When you go to return to Egypt, see all of the wonders that I have put in your hand, and do them before Pharaoh, and I myself will harden his heart, and he will not release the people.

{And} on the way, at the place of overnight lodging, Yahweh encountered him and sought to kill him.

And the people believed when they heard that Yahweh had attended to the {Israelites} and that he had seen their misery, and they knelt down and they worshiped.

And afterward, Moses and Aaron went, and they said to Pharaoh, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Release my people so that they may hold a festival for me in the desert.'"

And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go [on] a three-day journey into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he strike us with plague or with sword."

And on that day Pharaoh commanded the slave drivers over the people and his foremen, saying,

Let the work be heavier on the men so that they will do it and not pay attention to words of deception."

And the people spread out in all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for the straw.

And the slave drivers [were] insisting, saying, "Finish your work {for each day} on its day, as {when there was straw}."

And the foremen of the {Israelites} saw they were in trouble {with the saying}, "You will not reduce from your bricks {for each day} on its day."

And they met Moses and Aaron, [who were] waiting to meet them when they [were] going out from Pharaoh.

And they said to them, "May Yahweh look upon you and judge because you have caused our fragrance to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants [so as] to put a sword into their hand to kill us."

And from the time I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble to this people, and you have certainly not delivered your people."

And I not only established my covenant with them to give to them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, in which they dwelt as aliens,

Therefore say to the {Israelites}, 'I [am] Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the {forced labor} of Egypt, and I will deliver you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great punishments.

And these [are] the names of the sons of Levi according to their genealogies: Gershon and Kohath and Merari, and the years of the life of Levi [were] {one hundred and thirty-seven years}.

And the sons of Kohath [are] Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel, and the years of the life of Kohath [were] {one hundred and thirty-three years}.

And Amram took Jochebed his aunt for himself as a wife, and she bore for him Aaron and Moses, and the years of the life of Amram [were] {one hundred and thirty-seven years}.

And Eleazar the son of Aaron took for himself [one] from the daughters of Putiel as a wife, and she bore for him Phinehas. These [are] the heads of the {families} of the Levites according to their clans.

They [were] those who spoke to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, in order to bring the {Israelites} out from Egypt. [It was] that Moses and Aaron.

{And so it was on a certain day} Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt.

And I myself will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and I will make my signs and my wonders numerous in the land of Egypt.

And [the] Egyptians will know that I [am] Yahweh when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring the {Israelites} out from their midst."

(And Moses [was] {eighty years old}, and Aaron [was] {eighty-three years old} when they spoke to Pharaoh.)

"When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Do a wonder for yourselves,' you will say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.'"

Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must wait to meet him on the bank of the Nile, and you must take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.

And you must say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Release my people that they may serve me in the desert, and, look, you have not listened until now."

Thus says Yahweh, "By this you will know that I [am] Yahweh. Look, I [am about to] strike with the staff that is in my hand the water that is in the Nile, and it will be changed to blood.

And the fish that [are] in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink, and [the] Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile." '"

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch your hand out over the waters of Egypt and over their rivers, over their canals, and over their pools and over all of their reservoirs of water, so that they become blood,' and blood will be in all the land of Egypt and in [vessels of] wood and of stone."

And Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh had commanded, and he raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all of the water that was in the Nile was changed to blood.

And the fish that [were] in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, and [the] Egyptians were not able to drink water from the Nile, and the blood was in all the land of Egypt.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the pools, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt.'"

And Moses said to Pharaoh, "{I leave to you the honor} over me. When shall I pray for you and for your servants and for your people to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses? They will be left only in the Nile."

And he said, "Tomorrow." And he said, "[Let it be] according to your word so that you will know that there is no one like Yahweh our God.

And the frogs will depart from you and from your house and from your servants. They will be left only in the Nile."

And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to Yahweh over the matter of the frogs that he had brought on Pharaoh.

And they piled them [in] countless heaps, and the land stank.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it will become gnats in all the land of Egypt.'"

And he did so, and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and he struck the dust of the land, and it became gnats on the humans and on the animals; all of the dust of the land became gnats in all the land of Egypt.

And the magicians did so with their secret arts to bring out the gnats, but they were not able, and the gnats were on the humans and on the animals.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

But if you are not [about to] release my people, look, I [am about] to send out flies among you and among your servants and among your people and in your houses; and the houses of Egypt will fill up with the flies and also the ground that they are on.

But on that day I will distinguish the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, by there not being flies there, so that you will know that I [am] Yahweh in the midst of the land.

And Yahweh did so, and a {severe} [swarm of] flies came to the house of Pharaoh and the house of his servants and in all the land of Egypt; the land was ruined because of the flies.

And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and he said, "Go, sacrifice to your God in the land."

And Pharaoh said, "I myself will release you, and you will sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the desert. Only surely you must not go far. Pray for me."

And Yahweh did according to the word of Moses and removed the flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one was left.

look, the hand of Yahweh [is] about to be [present with] a very {severe} plague on your livestock that are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the cattle, and on the sheep and goats.

And Yahweh set an appointed time, saying, "Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land."

And Yahweh did this thing the next day; all the livestock of Egypt died, but from the livestock of the {Israelites} not one died.

And Pharaoh sent [to check], and {it turned out} not even one from the livestock of Israel had died, but Pharaoh's heart was {insensitive}, and he did not release the people.

And it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it will become on humans and on animals a skin sore sprouting blisters in all the land of Egypt."

And they took the soot of the smelting furnace, and they stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it toward the heavens, and it became skin sores sprouting blisters on humans and on animals.

And the magicians were not able to stand before Moses because of the skin sores, for the skin sores were on the magicians and on all [the] Egyptians.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people so that they may serve me.

For at this time I [am] sending all of my plagues {to you personally} and among your servants and among your people so that you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

But for the sake of this I have caused you to stand--for the sake of showing you my strength and in order to proclaim my name in all the earth.

Look, about [this] time tomorrow, I [am] going to cause very severe hail to rain, the like of which has not been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

And now send [word]; bring into safety your livestock and all that [belongs] to you in the field. The hail will come down on every human and animal that is found in the field and not gathered into the house, and they will die." '"

But whoever did not {give regard to} the word of Yahweh abandoned his servants and his livestock in the field.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand to the heavens, and let there be hail in all the land of Egypt, on human and on animal and on all the vegetation of the field in the land of Egypt."

And Moses stretched out his staff to the heavens, and Yahweh gave thunder and hail, and fire went [to the] earth, and Yahweh caused hail to rain on the land of Egypt.

And there was hail, and fire [was] flashing back and forth in the midst of the very severe hail, the like of which was not in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

And the hail struck in all the land of Egypt all that [was] in the field, from human to animal, and the hail struck all the vegetation of the field and smashed every tree of the field.

Only in the land of Goshen, where the {Israelites} [were], there was no hail.