Pharaoh then commanded all his people: “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.”

So Moses thought: I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?

They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God.

“Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves.

Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks.”

You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land.

We must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He instructs us.”

“As soon as I leave you,” Moses said, “I will appeal to the Lord, and tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceptively again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to the Lord.”

Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship Yahweh their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?”

Moses replied, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds because we must hold Yahweh’s festival.”

Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship Yahweh. Even your families may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”

Moses responded, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to prepare for Yahweh our God.

Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind because we will take some of them to worship Yahweh our God. We will not know what we will use to worship Yahweh until we get there.”

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household.

You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats.

They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them.

Do not let any of it remain until morning; you must burn up any part of it that does remain before morning.

Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.

“This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel.

“You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreign resident or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel.

The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate; he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it.

When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ritual in this month.

For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord.

You must redeem every firstborn of a donkey with a flock animal, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. However, you must redeem every firstborn among your sons.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelites swear a solemn oath, saying, “God will certainly come to your aid; then you must take my bones with you from this place.”

“Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.

The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.”

Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do.

Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob, and explain to the Israelites:

And the Lord told Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes

Even the priests who come near the Lord must purify themselves or the Lord will break out in anger against them.”

And the Lord replied to him, “Go down and come back with Aaron. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the Lord, or He will break out in anger against them.”

You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.

You must not make gods of silver to rival Me; you must not make gods of gold for yourselves.

“You must make an earthen altar for Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats, as well as your cattle. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I cause My name to be remembered.

If you make a stone altar for Me, you must not build it out of cut stones. If you use your chisel on it, you will defile it.

You must not go up to My altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it.

“These are the ordinances that you must set before them:

If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.

his master is to bring him to the judges and then bring him to the door or doorpost. His master must pierce his ear with an awl, and he will serve his master for life.

If she is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her.

Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters.

If he takes an additional wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.

“Whoever strikes a person so that he dies must be put to death.

If a person schemes and willfully acts against his neighbor to murder him, you must take him from My altar to be put to death.

“Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.

“Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession.

“Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.

if he can later get up and walk around outside leaning on his staff, then the one who struck him will be exempt from punishment. Nevertheless, he must pay for his lost work time and provide for his complete recovery.

“When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod, and the slave dies under his abuse, the owner must be punished.

“When men get in a fight and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman’s husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment.

If there is an injury, then you must give life for life,

“When a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his eye.

If he knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his tooth.

“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned, and its meat may not be eaten, but the ox’s owner is innocent.

However, if the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned, and its owner must also be put to death.

If the ox gores a male or female slave, he must give 30 shekels of silver to the slave’s master, and the ox must be stoned.

the owner of the pit must give compensation; he must pay money to its owner, but the dead animal will become his.

“When a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live ox and divide its proceeds; they must also divide the dead animal.

If, however, it is known that the ox was in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not restrained it, he must compensate fully, ox for ox; the dead animal will become his.

“When a man steals an ox or a sheep and butchers it or sells it, he must repay five cattle for the ox or four sheep for the sheep.

But if this happens after sunrise, there is guilt of bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution. If he is unable, he is to be sold because of his theft.

If what was stolen—whether ox, donkey, or sheep—is actually found alive in his possession, he must repay double.

“When a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed in, and then allows his animals to go and graze in someone else’s field, he must repay with the best of his own field or vineyard.

“When a fire gets out of control, spreads to thornbushes, and consumes stacks of cut grain, standing grain, or a field, the one who started the fire must make full restitution for what was burned.

“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 the thief is not caught, the owner of the house must present himself to the judges to determine whether or not he has taken his neighbor’s property.

In any case of wrongdoing involving an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or anything else lost, and someone claims, ‘That’s mine,’ the case between the two parties is to come before the judges. The one the judges condemn must repay double to his neighbor.

there must be an oath before the Lord between the two of them to determine whether or not he has taken his neighbor’s property. Its owner must accept the oath, and the other man does not have to make restitution.

But if, in fact, the animal was stolen from his custody, he must make restitution to its owner.

“When a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while its owner is not there with it, the man must make full restitution.

“If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and he has sexual relations with her, he must certainly pay the bridal price for her to be his wife.

If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must pay an amount in silver equal to the bridal price for virgins.

“You must not allow a sorceress to live.

“Whoever has sexual intercourse with an animal must be put to death.

“You must not exploit a foreign resident or oppress him, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

“You must not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

“If you lend money to My people, to the poor person among you, you must not be like a moneylender to him; you must not charge him interest.

“You must not blaspheme God or curse a leader among your people.

“You must not hold back offerings from your harvest or your vats. Give Me the firstborn of your sons.

“Be My holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; throw it to the dogs.

“You must not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked to be a malicious witness.

“You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.

“If you come across your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.

“If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it.

“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit.

You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words of the righteous.

You must not oppress a foreign resident; you yourselves know how it feels to be a foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

“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.

“You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened. The fat of My festival offering must not remain until morning.

“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God.

“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.

You must not make a covenant with them or their gods.

They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against Me. If you worship their gods, it will be a snare for you.”

You must make it according to all that I show you—the pattern of the tabernacle as well as the pattern of all its furnishings.

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