The Israelites, however, were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Come, let's deal wisely with them. Otherwise they will continue to multiply, and if a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with our enemies and fight against us and leave the country."

So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

So God treated the midwives well, and the people multiplied and became very strong.

The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a healthy child, she hid him for three months.

Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, took it,

opened it, and saw the child -- a boy, crying! -- and she felt compassion for him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get a nursing woman for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse the child for you?"

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Yes, do so." So the young girl went and got the child's mother.

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.

When the child grew older she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "Because I drew him from the water."

In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and observed their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking a Hebrew man, one of his own people.

He looked this way and that and saw that no one was there, and then he attacked the Egyptian and concealed the body in the sand.

When he went out the next day, there were two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong, "Why are you attacking your fellow Hebrew?"

When Pharaoh heard about this event, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he settled by a certain well.

Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw water and fill the troughs in order to water their father's flock.

So when they came home to their father Reuel, he asked, "Why have you come home so early today?"

He said to his daughters, "So where is he? Why in the world did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat a meal with us."

God saw the Israelites, and God understood.

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

When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."

So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

Moses said to God, "If I go to the Israelites and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' -- what should I say to them?"

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 I will extend my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do among them, and after that he will release you.

"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'?"

The Lord said, "Throw it to the ground." So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses ran from it.

But the Lord said to Moses, "Put out your hand and grab it by the tail" -- so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand --

The Lord also said to him, "Put your hand into your robe." So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out -- there was his hand, leprous like snow!

He said, "Put your hand back into your robe." So he put his hand back into his robe, and when he brought it out from his robe -- there it was, restored like the rest of his skin!

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.

So Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Let me go, so that I may return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

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.

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

So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said, "A bridegroom of blood," referring to the circumcision.)

The Lord said to Aaron, "Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and greeted him with a kiss.

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Release my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feast to me in the desert.'"

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."

Make the work harder for the men so they will keep at it and pay no attention to lying words!"

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.

So the people spread out through all the land of Egypt to collect stubble for 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."

and they said to them, "May the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants, so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!"

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for compelled by my strong hand he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land."

Now these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (The length of Levi's life was 137 years.)

The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. (The length of Kohath's life was 133 years.)

Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram's life was 137 years.)

So the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and although I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt,

And Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.

"When Pharaoh says to you, 'Do a miracle,' and you say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,' it will become a snake."

When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them -- Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake.

Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

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

The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hard; he refuses to release the people.

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.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt's waters -- over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their reservoirs -- so that it becomes blood.' There will be blood everywhere in the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers."

Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord had commanded. Moses raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile right before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

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!

But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts, and so Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron -- just as the Lord had predicted.

So Aaron extended his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

Moses said to Pharaoh, "You may have the honor over me -- when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed from you and your houses, so that they will be left only in the Nile?"

He said, "Tomorrow." And Moses said, "It will be as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

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

They did so; Aaron extended his hand with his staff, he struck the dust of the ground, and it became gnats on people and on animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

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.

But on that day I will mark off the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of this land.

The Lord did so; a thick swarm of flies came into Pharaoh's house and into the houses of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

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."

So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

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.

So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, Moses threw it into the air, and it caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals.

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

The Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: "Release my people so that they may serve me!

For this time I will send all my plagues on your very self and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth.

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!"'"

Those of Pharaoh's servants who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their servants and livestock into the houses,

When Moses extended his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire fell to the earth; so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

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.

So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time! The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty.

Moses said to him, "When I leave the city I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord.

So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain stopped pouring on the earth.

When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he sinned again: both he and his servants hardened their hearts.

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

and in order that in the hearing of your son and your grandson you may tell how I made fools of the Egyptians and about my signs that I displayed among them, so that you may know that I am the Lord."

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: 'How long do you refuse to humble yourself before me? Release my people so that they may serve me!

They will cover the surface of the earth, so that you will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped -- what is left over for you -- from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field.

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?"

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, serve the Lord your God. Exactly who is going with you?"

No! Go, you men only, and serve the Lord, for that is what you want." Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh's presence.

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!

They covered the surface of all the ground, so that the ground became dark with them, and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt.