"When you help the Hebrew women give birth," he said, "watch them as they deliver. If it's a son, kill him; but if it's a daughter, let her live."

After the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, because she said, "I drew him out of the water."

When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh, settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

Then Moses told himself, "I'll go over and see this remarkable sight. Why isn't the bush burning up?"

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from the center of the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He said, "Here I am."

"Do not come any closer," God said. "Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground."

Then he said, "I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

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,

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."

God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and then said, "Tell the Israelis: "I AM sent me to you.'"

"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 God said, "Throw it to the ground." He threw it to the ground and it became a snake. Moses ran away from it.

God said, "I've done this so that they may believe that the LORD God of their ancestors the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you."

Then God said, "Put your hand back into your bosom." He returned it to his bosom and as soon as he brought it out, it was restored like the rest of his skin.

Moses said, "Please, LORD, send somebody else."

Then the LORD was angry with Moses and said, "There's your brother Aaron, a descendant of Levi, isn't there? I know that he certainly is eloquent. Right now he's coming to meet you and he will be pleased to see you.

Then the LORD told Moses, "When you set out to return to Egypt, keep in mind all the wonders that I've put in your power, so that you may do them before Pharaoh. But I'll harden his heart so that he won't let the people go.

Then the LORD withdrew from him, and she said, ""a bridegroom of blood because of circumcision."

Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should listen to him and let Israel go? I don't know about the LORD, nor will I let Israel go!"

Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God so he does not strike us with pestilence or sword."

Then Pharaoh said, "Look, the people in the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working."

Then Pharaoh said, "You are lazy, lazy! That's why you're saying, "Let's go offer sacrifices to the LORD.'

The Israeli supervisors realized they were in trouble when he said, "You won't reduce each day's quota of bricks!"

Then Moses said right in front of the LORD, "Look, the Israelis didn't listen to me, so how will Pharaoh? I'm not a persuasive speaker."

This is the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, "Bring the Israelis out of the land of Egypt by their tribal divisions."

Moses said in the presence of the LORD, "Look, I'm not a persuasive speaker, so how will Pharaoh listen to me?"

Yet Pharaoh's heart was stubborn and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said would happen.

But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their secret arts. Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

Then Pharaoh called to Moses and Aaron and said, "Plead with the LORD so that he may remove the frogs from me and my people. I'll let the people go so they can offer sacrifices to the LORD."

Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow."

Moses said, "It will be just as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. The frogs will leave you, your house, your officials, and your people. They'll remain only in the Nile River."

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, offer sacrifices to your God in the land."

Then Pharaoh said, "I'll let you go so you can offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert. But you must not go very far away. Pray for me."

Moses said, "Right now I'm going to leave you, and I'll pray to the LORD that the swarms of insects may depart from Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people tomorrow. But Pharaoh, don't continue lying by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD."

The LORD set the time: "Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land."

Then the LORD told Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it into the air in front of Pharaoh.

The soot will become dust over the entire land of Egypt, and it will become boils erupting into sores on people and animals throughout the land of Egypt."

So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. Then Moses threw it into the air,and it became boils producing running sores on people and animals.

Pray to the LORD! There has been enough of God's thunder and hail! I'll let you go, and you need not stay any longer."

Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he did not let the Israelis go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

Moses said, "We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and our daughters, with our sheep and our cattle, because it's a festival to the LORD for us."

Pharaoh quickly called Moses and Aaron and said, "I've sinned against the LORD your God and against you.

Pharaoh called Moses and said, "Go serve the LORD, but your flocks and your cattle are to remain. Even your little ones can go with you!"

Moses said, "You must let us havesacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to the LORD our God.

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

And so at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.

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.

Meanwhile, the Israelis had done as Moses said; they had asked the Egyptians for objects of silver and objects of gold, and for clothes.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearer, because God had said, "If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt."

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?"

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!"

coming between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. The cloud remained there even in the darkness, illuminating the night, so that the one side did not come near the other all night.

He made the wheels of their chariots wobble so that they drove them with difficulty. The Egyptians said, "Let's flee from Israel because the LORD is fighting for them and against us."

"The enemy said, "I'll pursue them, I'll overtake them, I'll divide the spoil. I'll satisfy my anger on them, I'll draw my sword, and my hand will bring them to ruin.'

Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree, which he threw into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the LORD presented to them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them. He said, "If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what he sees to be right, listen to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then I won't inflict on you all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, because I am the LORD your healer."

The Israelis told them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt when we sat by the cooking pots, when we ate bread until we were filled because you brought us to this desert to kill this entire congregation with hunger."

Moses also said, "When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread in the morning to satisfy you, the LORD will hear your complaints directed against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren't against us, but rather against the LORD."

and he told them, "This is what the LORD said: "Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and put aside whatever remains to be kept for yourselves until morning.'"

Moses said, "Eat it today, since today is a Sabbath to the LORD, and today you won't find it in the field.

You see that the LORD has given you the Sabbath, and so on the sixth day he gives you food for two days. Let each person stay where he is; let no one leave his place on the seventh day."

The Israelis named it "manna". It was white like coriander seed, and tasted like a wafer made with honey.

Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: "Set aside one omer of it for future generations, so that they may see the food with which I fed you in the desert when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'"

The whole congregation of the Israelis set out from the desert of Sin, traveling from place to place according to the command of the LORD. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

Whenever Moses raised his hand, the Israelis prevailed, but when his hand remained at his side, then the Amalekites prevailed.

When Moses' hands became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and so his hands were steady until the sun went down.

"Because," he said, "a fist has been raised in defiance against the throne of the LORD, the LORD will wage war against Amalek from generation to generation."

Jethro said, "Blessed be the LORD, who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from the oppression of the Egyptians.

The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.

When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, with all the people standing around you from morning until evening?"

You are to look for capable men among the people, men who fear God, men of integrity who hate dishonest gain. You are to set these men over them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

They had set out from Rephidim and arrived at the desert of Sinai where they camped in the desert. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

All the people answered together: "We'll do everything that the LORD has said!"

and be ready for the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

You are to set boundaries for the people all around: "Be very careful that you don't go up on the mountain or touch the side of it. Anyone who touches the mountain is certainly to be put to death.

Moses told the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai because you warned us: "Set boundaries around the mountain and consecrate it.'"

"These are the ordinances that you are to set before them.

"You are to be people set apart for me. You are not to eat flesh torn apart in the field; you are to throw it to the dogs."

Stay far away from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent or the righteous, because I won't acquit the guilty.

"I'll set your borders from the Reed Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, bringing the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you are to drive them out ahead of you.

He took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They said, "We will put into practice and obey everything that the LORD has decreed."

Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD made with you based on all these words."

Then the LORD told Moses, "Go up to me on the mountain and stay there. I'll give you stone tablets with the instruction and law that I've written to teach the people."

You are to cast four rings for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side of it and two rings on its other side.

"You are to make a Mercy Seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

You are to make two cherubim of gold; you are to make them of hammered work at the two ends of the Mercy Seat.

Place one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end. You are to make the cherubim at the two ends of the Mercy Seat, and of one piece with it.

The cherubim are to spread their wings upward, covering the Mercy Seat with their wings and facing each other. The faces of the cherubim is to be turned toward the Mercy Seat.

You are to put the Mercy Seat on top of the ark, and put the Testimony that I'll give you into the ark.

I'll meet with you there, and I'll tell you all my commandments for the Israelis from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the Ark of the Testimony."

Six branches are to extend from its sides, three branches of the lamp stand from one side of it and three branches of the lamp stand from its other side.

You are to make loops of blue material along the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and likewise you are to make loops along the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set.

You are to make 50 loops in the one curtain, and you are to make 50 loops along the edge of the curtain that is in the second set, with the loops opposite each other.

You are to make 50 loops along the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and 50 loops along the edge of the curtain of the other set.

The half cubit that remain on either end of the length of the curtains of the tent is to hang over each side of the tent to cover it.

You are to make the boards for the tent: 20 boards for the south side.

"For the second side of the tent to the north you are to make 20 boards