Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they will not multiply and in the event of war, join our enemies, and fight against us and escape from the land.”

And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing flame of fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was on fire, yet it was not consumed.

When the Lord saw that he turned away [from the flock] to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

So I have come down to rescue them from the hand (power) of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a land [that is] good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]—to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and then bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

And God said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve and worship God at this mountain.”

So I said I will bring you up out of the suffering and oppression of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a [living] serpent [like the royal symbol on the crown of Pharaoh]; and Moses ran from it.

But if they will not believe these two signs or pay attention to what you say, you are to take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take out of the river will turn into blood on the dry ground.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will [not only] let them go, but under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”

“Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command concerning the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt; these are [the same] Moses and Aaron.

You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land.

But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I shall lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts [like a defensive army, tribe by tribe], My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment (the plagues).

The Lord did as Moses asked, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards and villages, and out of the fields.

Moses and Aaron did all these wonders (miracles) before Pharaoh; yet the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the Israelites go out of his land.

Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel [above the door] of the houses in which they eat it.

[In the celebration of the Passover in future years,] seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your houses [because it represents the spread of sin]; for whoever eats leavened bread on the first day through the seventh day, that person shall be cut off and excluded from [the atonement made for] Israel.

You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your hosts [grouped according to tribal armies] out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an ordinance forever.

You shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch some of the blood to the lintel [above the doorway] and to the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.

The Egyptians [anxiously] urged the people [to leave], to send them out of the land quickly, for they said, “We will all be dead.”

At the end of the four hundred and thirty years, to that very day, all the hosts of the Lord [gathered into tribal armies] left the land of Egypt.

It is a night of watching to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this [same] night is for the Lord, to be observed and celebrated by all the Israelites throughout their generations.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat it;

but every man’s slave who is bought with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.

No stranger (temporary resident, foreigner) or hired servant shall eat it.

If a stranger living temporarily among you wishes to celebrate the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may participate and celebrate it like one that is born in the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it.

And on that very same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their hosts (tribal armies).

Moses said to the people, “Remember [solemnly observe and commemorate] this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage and slavery; for by a strong and powerful hand the Lord brought you out of this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.

You shall explain this to your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

It shall serve as a sign to you on your hand (arm), and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the instruction (law) of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a strong and powerful hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.

So it shall serve as a sign and a reminder on your [left] hand (arm) and as frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong and powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea; the sons of Israel went up in battle array (orderly ranks, marching formation) out of the land of Egypt.

Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this that you have done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

Then Moses said, “This is the word which the Lord commands, ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

But the people were thirsty for water; and the people murmured against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; there you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may [have something to] drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Now Jethro (Reuel), the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the Lord had done to Israel, in that He had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians.

Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who has rescued the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens [from the highest to the lowest judicial levels].

Moses went up to God [on the mountain], and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Say this to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites:

No hand shall touch him [that is, no one shall try to save the guilty party], but the offender must be stoned or shot through [with arrows]; whether man or animal [that touches the mountain], he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

“I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

“You shall not make for yourself any idol, or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth [as an object to worship].

If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you use a chisel on it, you will profane it.

If his master gives him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall leave [your service] alone.

“If a man gives his neighbor money or [other] goods to keep [for him while he is away] and it is stolen from the neighbor’s house, then, if the thief is caught, he shall pay double [for it].

You shall not harm or oppress any widow or fatherless child.

You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. No one shall appear before Me empty-handed [but you shall bring sacrificial offerings].

So Moses took the blood [which had been placed in the large basins] and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The glory and brilliance of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day God called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

Six branches shall come out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand out of the one side and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side [the shaft being the seventh branch].

Three cups shall be made like almond blossoms, each with a calyx and a flower on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms on the other branch with a calyx and a flower—so for the six branches coming out of the lampstand;

You shall hang it on four pillars (support poles) of acacia wood overlaid with gold, with gold hooks, on four silver sockets.

Make horns (horn-shaped projections) for it on its four corners; the horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze.

“You are to make a breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skilled and talented craftsman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and of fine twisted linen.

You shall fasten it on the front of the turban with a blue cord.

Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

And you shall take some of the blood of the bull and with your finger put it on the horns of the altar [of burnt offering], and you shall pour out the remainder of the blood at the base of the altar.

Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ears of Aaron and his sons and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the [rest of the] blood around on the altar [of burnt offering].

and one loaf of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord;

They shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy [that is, set apart to the worship of God].

They shall know [from personal experience] and acknowledge that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.

You shall make two gold rings under its molding, make them on the two side walls—on opposite sides—they shall be holders for the poles with which to carry it.

Whoever prepares any like it or puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].’”

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”

But Moses appeased and entreated the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?

And as soon as he approached the camp and he saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned; and he threw the tablets from his hands and smashed them at the foot of the mountain.

Then Moses took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it on the surface of the water and made the Israelites drink it.

For they said to me, ‘Make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to the point of being an object of mockery among their enemies—

Yet now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of Your book which You have written (kill me)!”

But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book [not you].

otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the prostitute with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat his sacrifice (meal),

“You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover). For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

There were six branches coming out of the sides of the lampstand, three branches from one side of the center shaft and three branches from the other side of it;

three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a calyx and a flower in one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a calyx and a flower in the opposite branch—so for the six branches coming out of the center shaft of the lampstand.

and a calyx was under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a calyx under the second pair of branches, coming out of it, and a calyx under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.

He overlaid it with pure gold, its top, its sides all around and its horns; he also made a rim of gold around it.

The skillfully woven sash with which to bind it, which was on the ephod [to hold it in place], was like its workmanship, of the same material: of gold and of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

They tied a blue cord to it, to fasten it on the turban above, just as the Lord commanded Moses.