Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt.

But the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women -- for the Hebrew women are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!"

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked -- and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!

So Moses thought, "I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?"

God said, "Do not approach any closer! Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, not even under force.

"I will grant this people favor with the Egyptians, so that when you depart you will not leave empty-handed.

Moses answered again, "And if they do not believe me or pay attention to me, but say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you'?"

"If they do not believe you or pay attention to the former sign, then they may believe the latter sign.

And if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, then take some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."

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 him, "Who gave a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

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.

Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him.

But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord that I should obey him by releasing Israel? I do not know the Lord, and I will not release Israel!"

And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journey into the desert so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword."

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 the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said, "Thus says Pharaoh: 'I am not giving you straw.

The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh's slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked, "Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past -- both yesterday and today?"

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."

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 appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name 'the Lord' I was not known to them.

Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and hard labor.

But Moses replied to the Lord, "If the Israelites did not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with difficulty?"

Pharaoh will not listen to you. I will reach into Egypt and bring out my regiments, my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

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.

When the fish that were in the Nile died, the Nile began to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood everywhere in the land of Egypt!

And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this.

All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the Nile.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

When the magicians attempted to bring forth gnats by their secret arts, they could not. So there were gnats on people and on animals.

The magicians said to Pharaoh, "It is the finger of God!" But Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

If you do not release my people, then I am going to send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and in your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground they stand on.

But Moses said, "That would not be the right thing to do, for the sacrifices we make to the Lord our God would be an abomination to the Egyptians. If we make sacrifices that are an abomination to the Egyptians right before their eyes, will they not stone 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."

Moses said, "I am going to go out from you and pray to the Lord, and the swarms of flies will go away from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only do not let Pharaoh deal falsely again by not releasing the people to sacrifice to the Lord."

and the Lord did as Moses asked -- he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained!

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not release the people.

And the Lord did this on the next day; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the Israelites' livestock not one died.

Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not release the people.

The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses.

You are still exalting yourself against my people by not releasing them.

So now, send instructions to gather your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person or animal caught in the field and not brought into the house -- the hail will come down on them, and they will die!"'"

but those who did not take the word of the Lord seriously left their servants and their cattle in the field.

Hail fell and fire mingled with the hail; the hail was so severe that there had not been any like it in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God."

But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are later crops.)

So Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not release the Israelites, as the Lord had predicted through Moses.

Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a menace to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know that Egypt is destroyed?"

He said to them, "The Lord will need to be with you if I release you and your dependents! Watch out! Trouble is right in front of you!

So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all night. The morning came, and the east wind had brought up the locusts!

and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not release the Israelites.

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."

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to release them.

Pharaoh said to him, "Go from me! Watch out for yourself! Do not appear before me again, for when you see my face you will die!"

Moses said, "As you wish! I will not see your face again."

But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark against either people or animals, so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.'

The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."

So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not release the Israelites from his land.

They will eat the meat the same night; they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs.

Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails.

I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.

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.'"

Take a branch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out the door of his house until morning.

For the Lord will pass through to strike Egypt, and when he sees the blood on the top of the doorframe and the two side posts, then the Lord will pass over the door, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

Pharaoh got up in the night, along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house in which there was not someone dead.

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!

They baked cakes of bread without yeast using the dough they had brought from Egypt, for it was made without yeast -- because they were thrust out of Egypt and were not able to delay, they could not prepare food for themselves either.

It was a night of vigil for the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt, and so on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil to the Lord for generations to come.

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.

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.

When Pharaoh released the people, God did not lead them by the way to the land of the Philistines, although that was nearby, for God said, "Lest the people change their minds and return to Egypt when they experience war."

Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel day or night.

He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord that he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again.

It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other the whole night.

Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided.

The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea -- not so much as one of them survived!

Then they came to Marah, but they were not able to drink the waters of Marah, because they were bitter. (That is why its name was Marah.)

He said, "If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the Lord, am your healer."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. Will they will walk in my law or not?

Moses said, "You will know this when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satisfy you, because the Lord has heard your murmurings that you are murmuring against him. As for us, what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord."

When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" because they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the Lord has given you for food.

But they did not listen to Moses; some kept part of it until morning, and it was full of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them.

So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.

Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the area.

Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."

He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"

Moses' father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing is not good!

You will surely wear out, both you and these people who are with you, for this is too heavy a burden for you; you are not able to do it by yourself.

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."