Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "All sons that are born you must throw into the river, but all daughters you may let live."

God said to Moses, "I am that I am." And he said, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'I am has sent me to you.'"

God also said to Moses, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'The Lord -- the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob -- has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.'

"The elders will listen to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.'

So now go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you must say."

"So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you both what you must do.

You must say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, "Israel is my son, my firstborn,

"You must no longer give straw to the people for making bricks as before. Let them go and collect straw for themselves.

But you must require of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. That is why they are crying, 'Let us go sacrifice to our God.'

So now, get back to work! You will not be given straw, but you must still produce your quota of bricks!"

The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, "You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks."

"Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt that he must release the Israelites from his land."

You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release the Israelites from his land.

We must go on a three-day journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, just as he is telling us."

Pharaoh said, "I will release you so that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert. Only you must not go very far. Do pray for me."

Our livestock must also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take these animals to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord."

Tell the whole community of Israel, 'In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families -- a lamb for each household.

Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown.

You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning.

For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. Surely on the first day you must put away yeast from your houses because anyone who eats bread made with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel.

On the first day there will be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind on them, only what every person will eat -- that alone may be prepared for you.

So you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your regiments out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast -- that person will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner or one born in the land.

You will not eat anything made with yeast; in all the places where you live you must eat bread made without yeast.'"

You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever.

When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe this ceremony.

A foreigner and a hired worker must not eat it.

It must be eaten in one house; you must not bring any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it.

The whole community of Israel must observe it.

"When a foreigner lives with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may approach and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land -- but no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord.

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.

So you must keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.

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.

Every firstling of a donkey you must redeem with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, then you must break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you must redeem.

"Tell the Israelites that they must turn and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you are to camp by the sea before Baal Zephon opposite it.

warn them of the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.

You must set boundaries for the people all around, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves not to go up on the mountain nor touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death!

No hand will touch him -- but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; he must not live.' When the ram's horn sounds a long blast they may go up on the mountain."

You must not make gods of silver alongside me, nor make gods of gold for yourselves.

You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you.

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.

And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.'

then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully with her.

If he takes another wife, he must not diminish the first one's food, her clothing, or her marital rights.

"Whoever strikes someone so that he dies must surely be put to death.

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

"Whoever kidnaps someone and sells him, or is caught still holding him, must surely be put to death.

"Whoever treats his father or his mother disgracefully must surely be put to death.

"If men fight, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist and he does not die, but must remain in bed,

and then if he gets up and walks about outside on his staff, then the one who struck him is innocent, except he must pay for the injured person's loss of time and see to it that he is fully healed.

"If an ox gores a man or a woman so that either dies, then the ox must surely be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted.

But if the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner was warned, and he did not take the necessary precautions, and then it killed a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned and the man must be put to death.

If a ransom is set for him, then he must pay the redemption for his life according to whatever amount was set for him.

If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.

the owner of the pit must repay the loss. He must give money to its owner, and the dead animal will become his.

Or if it is known that the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner did not take the necessary precautions, he must surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will become his.

"If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox, and four sheep for the one sheep.

If the sun has risen on him, then there is blood guilt for him. A thief must surely make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft.

If the stolen item should in fact be found alive in his possession, whether it be an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he must pay back double.

"If a man grazes his livestock in a field or a vineyard, and he lets the livestock loose and they graze in the field of another man, he must make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

"If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or standing grain or the whole field is consumed, the one who started the fire must surely make restitution.

"If a man gives his neighbor money or articles for safekeeping, and it is stolen from the man's house, if the thief is caught, he must repay double.

In all cases of illegal possessions, whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says 'This belongs to me,' the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, and the one whom the judges declare guilty must repay double to his neighbor.

"If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged and has sexual relations with her, he must surely endow her to be his wife.

If her father refuses to give her to him, he must pay money for the bride price of virgins.

"You must not allow a sorceress to live.

"Whoever has sexual relations with a beast must surely be put to death.

"Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord alone must be utterly destroyed.

"You must not wrong a foreigner nor oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

"You must not afflict any widow or orphan.

If you do take the garment of your neighbor in pledge, you must return it to him by the time the sun goes down,

"You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

"Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. You must give me the firstborn of your sons.

You must also do this for your oxen and for your sheep; seven days they may remain with their mothers, but give them to me on the eighth day.

"You will be holy people to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. You must throw it to the dogs.

"You must not give a false report. Do not make common cause with the wicked to be a malicious witness.

"You must not follow a crowd in doing evil things; in a lawsuit you must not offer testimony that agrees with a crowd so as to pervert justice,

and you must not show partiality to a poor man in his lawsuit.

"If you encounter your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, you must by all means return it to him.

If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, but be sure to help him with it.

"You must not turn away justice for your poor people in their lawsuits.

"You must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and subverts the words of the righteous.

"You must not oppress a foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

But in the seventh year you must let it lie fallow and leave it alone so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave any animal in the field may eat; you must do likewise with your vineyard and your olive grove.

For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant's son and any hired help may refresh themselves.

"Three times in the year you must make a pilgrim feast to me.

You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before me empty-handed.

"You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning.

The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. "You must not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

"You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones to pieces.

You must serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst.

"You must make no covenant with them or with their gods.

They must not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

Moses alone may come near the Lord, but the others must not come near, nor may the people go up with him."

According to all that I am showing you -- the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings -- you must make it exactly so.

You are to overlay it with pure gold -- both inside and outside you must overlay it, and you are to make a surrounding border of gold over it.

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