Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?"

So when they came home to their father Reuel, he asked, "Why have you come home so early today?"

When she bore a son, Moses named him Gershom, for he said, "I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land."

The Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.

He replied, "Surely I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain."

"Go and bring together the elders of Israel and tell them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, appeared to me -- the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- saying, "I have attended carefully to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt,

and I have promised that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'

Then Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

The Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

and I said to you, 'Let my son go that he may serve me,' but since you have refused to let him go, I will surely kill your son, your firstborn!"'"

and they said to them, "May the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants, so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!"

Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why did you ever send me?

From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble for this people, and you have certainly not rescued them!"

I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

So the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

Tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, "Release my people, that they may serve me in the desert!" But until now you have not listened.

Moses said to Pharaoh, "You may have the honor over me -- when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed from you and your houses, so that they will be left only in the Nile?"

But the Lord will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing will die of all that the Israelites have."'"

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from a furnace, and have Moses throw it into the air while Pharaoh is watching.

For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth.

But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth.

So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time! The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty.

The Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display these signs of mine before him,

They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been in the land until this day!'" Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh.

Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you!

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, "Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested!

Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also."

But everyone's servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it.

Bread made without yeast must be eaten for seven days; no bread made with yeast shall be seen among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders.

then you must give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. Every firstling of a beast that you have -- the males will be the Lord's.

When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, "What in the world have we done? For we have released the people of Israel from serving us!"

and they said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What in the world have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I have gained my honor because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

The depths have covered them, they went down to the bottom like a stone.

In the abundance of your majesty you have overthrown those who rise up against you. You sent forth your wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

By your loyal love you will lead the people whom you have redeemed; you will guide them by your strength to your holy dwelling place.

Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of your arm they will be as still as stone until your people pass by, O Lord, until the people whom you have bought pass by.

You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place you made for your residence, O Lord, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.

The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger!"

"I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, 'During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.'"

for he said, "For a hand was lifted up to the throne of the Lord -- that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."

and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (for Moses had said, "I have been a foreigner in a foreign land"),

When they have a dispute, it comes to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws."

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

The Lord said to Moses: "Thus you will tell the Israelites: 'You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.

If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of stones shaped with tools, for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it.

then there will be an oath to the Lord between the two of them, that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor's goods, and its owner will accept this, and he will not have to pay.

If it is torn in pieces, then he will bring it for evidence, and he will not have to pay for what was torn.

If its owner was with it, he will not have to pay; if it was hired, what was paid for the hire covers it.

"Pay attention to do everything I have told you, and do not even mention the names of other gods -- do not let them be heard on your lips.

"You are also to observe the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you have gathered in your harvest out of the field.

"I am going to send an angel before you to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.

The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me to the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them."

All the posts around the courtyard are to have silver bands; their hooks are to be silver, and their bases bronze.

You are to speak to all who are specially skilled, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they may make Aaron's garments to set him apart to minister as my priest.

It is to have two shoulder pieces attached to two of its corners, so it can be joined together.

You are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a seal; you are to have them set in gold filigree settings.

"Thus you are to do for Aaron and for his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; you are to consecrate them for seven days.

"See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

and I have filled him with the Spirit of God in skill, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship,

Moreover, I have also given him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and I have given ability to all the specially skilled, that they may make everything I have commanded you:

the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the Holy Place. They will make all these things just as I have commanded you."

The Lord spoke to Moses: "Go quickly, descend, because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.

They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them -- they have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.'"

Then the Lord said to Moses: "I have seen this people. Look what a stiff-necked people they are!

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about I will give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.'"

Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you, that you have brought on them so great a sin?"

Moses said, "You have been consecrated today for the Lord, for each of you was against his son or against his brother, so he has given a blessing to you today."

The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a very serious sin, but now I will go up to the Lord -- perhaps I can make atonement on behalf of your sin."

So Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Alas, this people has committed a very serious sin, and they have made for themselves gods of gold.

But now, if you will forgive their sin, but if not, wipe me out from your book that you have written."

So now go, lead the people to the place I have spoken to you about. See, my angel will go before you. But on the day that I punish, I will indeed punish them for their sin."

Moses said to the Lord, "See, you have been saying to me, 'Bring this people up,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, 'I know you by name, and also you have found favor in my sight.'

Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your way, that I may know you, that I may continue to find favor in your sight. And see that this nation is your people."

For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?"

The Lord said to Moses, "I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."

and said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord go among us, for we are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."

He said, "See, I am going to make a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you.

The Lord said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."