When the king of Egypt called for the midwives, he asked them, "Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?"

When they returned to their father Reuel, he asked, "Why have you returned so quickly today?"

"Then where is he?" He asked his daughters. "Why did you leave the man behind? Go invite him to have something to eat."

The LORD said, "I have certainly seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry caused by their slave masters. I really do understand their pain,

so I have come down to deliver them from their domination by the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Now, listen carefully! The cry of the Israelis has come to my attention about how severely the Egyptians have been oppressing them.

Then God said, "I certainly will be with you. And this will be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will serve God on this mountain."

"Go and gather the elders of Israel. Tell them, "The LORD God of your ancestors, appeared to me the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and he said, "I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt.

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

Then Moses told the LORD, "Please, LORD, I'm not eloquent. I never was in the past nor am I now since you spoke to your servant. In fact, I talk too slowly and I have a speech impediment."

The supervisors told them, "May the LORD look on you and judge you! You have made us repulsive to Pharaoh and his servants. You have put a sword in their hands to kill us."

So Moses returned to the LORD and asked him, "LORD, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why have you sent me here?

Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has caused trouble for this people, and you have done nothing to deliver your people."

Also, I've heard the groaning of the Israelis whom the Egyptians have forced to labor for them, and I've remembered my covenant.

Indeed, by now I could have sent forth my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth.

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."

Moses said, "Just as you have said, I won't see your face again!"

Then he summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and told them: "Get up, go out from among my people, both you and the Israelis! Go, serve the LORD as you have said.

though any slave purchased with money may eat it after you have circumcised him.

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?"

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?

Is this not what we told you in Egypt, when we said, "Leave us alone!' and "Let us serve the Egyptians!'? Indeed, it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"

"You have led with your gracious love this people whom you redeemed. You have guided them with your strength to your holy dwelling.

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.

"You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. You have made a place where you will reside, LORD. Your own hands have established a sanctuary, LORD.

When they measured it with a vessel the capacity of which was one omer, the one who gathered much did not have an excess, while the one who gathered little did not lack. They gathered exactly what each needed to eat.

When they have a dispute, it comes to me and I decide between a person and his neighbor, and make known the statutes of God and his instructions."

You are to have no other gods as a substitute for me.

The LORD told Moses, "This is what you are to say to the Israelis, "You have seen for yourselves that I spoke to you from heaven.

If she's displeasing to her master who selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He does not have the right to sell her to foreign people, because he has dealt unfairly with her.

The length of each curtain is to be 28 cubits, the width of each curtain four cubits, and all the curtains are to have the same measurements.

Each board is to have two pegs joined to one another, and you are to do this for all the boards of the tent.

You are to hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, which have hooks of gold, and are set on four sockets of silver.

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.

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.

"The width of the court on the west side is to have hangings 50 cubits long with ten pillars and ten 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.

It is to have two shoulder-pieces attached to its two edges so it can be joined together.

You are to have a gold bell and a pomegranate, then a gold bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe all the way around it.

The LORD told Moses, "Go down immediately, because your people whom you led out of Egypt have behaved corruptly.

They have been quick to turn aside from the way I commanded them, and they have made for themselves a molten calf. They have bowed down to it in worship, they have offered sacrifices to it, and they have said, "This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt.'"

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by yourself as you told them, "I'll increase the number of your descendants like the stars of the heavens, I'll give your descendants all of this land about which I have spoken, and they are to possess it forever.'"

Moses said, "You have been ordained to serve the LORD today, and you have brought a blessing on yourselves today because every man opposed his son or brother."

Now, if you will, forgive their sin but if not, blot me out of your book which you have written."

Moses told the LORD, "Look, you have told me, "Bring up this people,' but you haven't let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, "I know you by name,' and also, "You have found favor in my sight.'

Otherwise, how shall it be known that your people and I have received favor from you, unless you go with us and that we, your people and I, are distinguished from all the people on the surface of the earth?"

The LORD told Moses, "I'll do the very thing that you have said, because you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name."

For six days work is to be done, but on the seventh day you are to have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest in dedication to the LORD. Anyone who does work on that day is to be executed.

All the work on the Tent of Meeting was completed, and the Israelis had crafted it according to everything that the LORD had commanded Moses, as they should have.