And these [are] the names of the sons of Israel who came [to] Egypt; with Jacob, they each came with his {family}:

Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, lest they become many, and when war happens, they also will join our enemies and will fight against us and go up from the land."

And they appointed commanders of forced labor over them in order to oppress them with their {forced labor}, and they built storage cities for Pharaoh--Pithom and Rameses.

And as he oppressed them, so they became many, and so they spread out, and [the Egyptians] were afraid because of the presence of the {Israelites}.

And they made their lives bitter with hard work with mortar and with bricks and with all [sorts] of work in the field--with all their work in which they ruthlessly enslaved them.

But the midwives feared God, and they did not do as the king of Egypt had said to them. They let the boys live.

And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew [women are] not like the Egyptian women, because they [are] vigorous; before the midwife comes to them, they have given birth."

[Now] the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

And they came to Reuel, their father, and he said, "{Why have you come so quickly} today?"

And they said, "An Egyptian man delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he even drew [water] for us and watered the flock."

{And then} during those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the {Israelites} groaned because of the work, and they cried out, and their cry for help because of the work went up to God.

But Moses said to God, "Look, [if] I go to the {Israelites} and I say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What [is] his name?' [then] what shall I say to them?"

And they will listen to your voice, and you will go, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews has met with us, and now let us please go [on] a journey of three days into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God.'

And Moses answered, and he said, "And if they do not believe me and they do not listen to my voice, but they say, 'Yahweh did not appear to you?'"

"so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, appeared to you, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

"{And} if they do not believe you and they will not listen to the voice of the former sign, [then] they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

{And} if they also do not believe the second of these signs and they will not listen to your voice, [then] you must take water from the Nile and pour [it] onto the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."

And Moses went, and he returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and he said to him, "Please let me go, and let me return to my brothers who [are] in Egypt, and let me see whether they [are] yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

And Moses and Aaron went, and they gathered all of the elders of the {Israelites}.

And the people believed when they heard that Yahweh had attended to the {Israelites} and that he had seen their misery, and they knelt down and they worshiped.

And afterward, Moses and Aaron went, and they said to Pharaoh, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Release my people so that they may hold a festival for me in the desert.'"

And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go [on] a three-day journey into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he strike us with plague or with sword."

But the quota of the bricks that they [were] making {before} {you must require of them}. You must not reduce from it, because they [are] lazy. Therefore they [are] crying out, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

Let the work be heavier on the men so that they will do it and not pay attention to words of deception."

And the slave drivers of the people and their foremen went out, and they spoke to the people, saying, "Thus says Pharaoh, 'I [am] not giving you straw.

Straw [is] not being given to your servants, but [they are] saying to us, 'Make bricks!' and, look, your servants [are] being beaten, but it is the fault of your people."

And the foremen of the {Israelites} saw they were in trouble {with the saying}, "You will not reduce from your bricks {for each day} on its day."

And they met Moses and Aaron, [who were] waiting to meet them when they [were] going out from Pharaoh.

And they said to them, "May Yahweh look upon you and judge because you have caused our fragrance to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants [so as] to put a sword into their hand to kill us."

And I not only established my covenant with them to give to them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, in which they dwelt as aliens,

And Moses spoke thus to the {Israelites}, but they did not listen to Moses, because of {discouragement} and because of hard work.

They [were] those who spoke to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, in order to bring the {Israelites} out from Egypt. [It was] that Moses and Aaron.

And Moses and Aaron did [it]; as Yahweh commanded them, so they did.

(And Moses [was] {eighty years old}, and Aaron [was] {eighty-three years old} when they spoke to Pharaoh.)

And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. And Aaron threw his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a snake.

And Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did likewise with their secret arts.

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

And you must say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Release my people that they may serve me in the desert, and, look, you have not listened until now."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch your hand out over the waters of Egypt and over their rivers, over their canals, and over their pools and over all of their reservoirs of water, so that they become blood,' and blood will be in all the land of Egypt and in [vessels of] wood and of stone."

And all of [the] Egyptians dug around the Nile [for] water to drink, because they were unable to drink from the water of the Nile.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

And the Nile will swarm with frogs, and they will go up and come into your house and into your {bedroom} and onto your bed and into the house of your servants and among your people and into your ovens and into your kneading troughs.

And the magicians did likewise with their secret arts, and they brought up frogs over the land of Egypt.

And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to Yahweh, and let him remove the frogs from me and from my people, and let me release the people so that they can sacrifice to Yahweh."

And Moses said to Pharaoh, "{I leave to you the honor} over me. When shall I pray for you and for your servants and for your people to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses? They will be left only in the Nile."

And the frogs will depart from you and from your house and from your servants. They will be left only in the Nile."

And they piled them [in] countless heaps, and the land stank.

And the magicians did so with their secret arts to bring out the gnats, but they were not able, and the gnats were on the humans and on the animals.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

But if you are not [about to] release my people, look, I [am about] to send out flies among you and among your servants and among your people and in your houses; and the houses of Egypt will fill up with the flies and also the ground that they are on.

And Moses said, "To do so [is] not right, because we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God a thing detestable to the Egyptians. Look, [if] we sacrifice before their eyes the thing detestable to the Egyptians, will they not stone us?

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

And they took the soot of the smelting furnace, and they stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it toward the heavens, and it became skin sores sprouting blisters on humans and on animals.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people so that they may serve me.

And now send [word]; bring into safety your livestock and all that [belongs] to you in the field. The hail will come down on every human and animal that is found in the field and not gathered into the house, and they will die." '"

But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, because they [are] late-ripening.

And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, 'Until when will you refuse to submit before me? Release my people so that they may serve me.

And they will cover the surface of the land, and no one will be able to see the land, and they will eat the remainder of what is left--what is left over for you from the hail--and they will eat every sprouting tree [belonging] to you from the field.

And your houses will be full, and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all Egypt, [something] that your fathers and {your grandfathers} never saw from the day they were on the earth until this day.'" And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

And the servants of Pharaoh said to him, "Until when will this be a snare for us? Release the men so that they may serve Yahweh their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?"

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt with the locusts so that they may come up over the land of Egypt, and let them eat all the vegetation of the land, all that the hail left behind."

And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and they settled in all the territory of Egypt, very {severe}. Before it there were not locusts like them, nor will there be after it.

And they covered the surface of all the land, and the land was dark [with them], and they ate all the vegetation of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left, and no green was left in the trees nor in the vegetation of the field in all the land of Egypt.

No one could see his brother, and {because of it no one could move from where they were} [for] three days, but there was light for the {Israelites} in their dwellings.

Speak to all the community of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month, they will each take for themselves {a lamb for the family}, a lamb for the household.

And they will take [some] of the blood and put [it] on the two doorposts and on the lintel on the houses in which they eat it.

And they will eat the meat on this night; they will eat it fire-roasted and [with] unleavened bread on {bitter herbs}.

you will say, 'It [is] a Passover sacrifice for Yahweh, who passed over the houses of the {Israelites} in Egypt when he struck Egypt; and he delivered our houses.'" And the people knelt down and they worshiped.

And the {Israelites} went, and they did as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.

And [the] Egyptians urged the people [in order] to hurry their release from the land, because they said, "All of us [will] die!"

And the {Israelites} did according to the word of Moses, and they asked from [the] Egyptians [for] objects of silver and objects of gold and [for] clothing.

And Yahweh gave the people favor in the eyes of [the] Egyptians, and they granted [their] requests, and they plundered [the] Egyptians.

And they baked the dough that they had brought out from Egypt [as] cakes, unleavened bread, because it had no yeast when they were driven out from Egypt, and they were not able to delay, and also they had not made provisions for themselves.

And the period of dwelling of the {Israelites} that they dwelled in Egypt [was] four hundred and thirty years.

And all the {Israelites} did as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.

And when Pharaoh released the people, God did not lead them the way of the land of the Philistines, though it [was] nearer, because God said, "Lest the people change their mind when they see war and return to Egypt."

And they set out from Succoth, and they encamped at Etham on the edge of the desert.

"Speak to the {Israelites} so that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol {and the sea}; before Baal Zephon, [which is] opposite it, you will camp by the sea.

And Pharaoh will say of the {Israelites}, 'They are wandering around in the land. The desert has closed in on them.'

And I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and he will chase after them, and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and through all his army, and [the] Egyptians will know that I [am] Yahweh." And they did so.

And it was told to the king of Egypt that the people fled, and the heart of Pharaoh was changed and [that of] his servants toward the people, and they said, "What [is] this we have done, that we have released Israel from serving us!"

And [the] Egyptians chased after them, and they overtook them encamped at the sea--all the horses of the chariots of Pharaoh and his charioteers and his army--at Pi-hahiroth before Baal Zephon.

And Pharaoh approached, and the {Israelites} lifted their eyes, and there were the Egyptians traveling after them! And they were very afraid, and the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh.

And they said to Moses, "Because there are no graves in Egypt? Is that why you have taken us to die in the desert? What [is] this you have done to us by bringing us out from Egypt!

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the {Israelites} [so that] they set out.

And as for me, look, I [am] about to harden the heart of [the] Egyptians [so that] they come after them, and I will display my glory through Pharaoh and through all of his army, through his chariots and through his charioteers.

And he removed the wheels of their chariots [so that] they drove them with difficulty, and [the] Egyptians said, "We must flee away from Israel because Yahweh [is] fighting for them against Egypt."

And Israel saw the great hand that Yahweh displayed against Egypt, and the people feared Yahweh, and they believed in Yahweh and in Moses his servant.

Then Moses and the {Israelites} sang this song to Yahweh, {and they said}, "Let me sing to Yahweh because he is highly exalted; [the] horse and its rider he hurled into the sea.

The deep waters covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.

You blew with your breath; the sea covered them; they dropped like lead in the mighty waters.

Peoples heard; they trembled; anguish seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

Terror and dread fell on them; at the greatness of your arm they became silent like the stone, until your people passed by, Yahweh, until [the] people whom you bought passed by.

And Moses caused Israel to set out from the {Red Sea}, and they went out into the desert of Shur, and they traveled three days in the desert, and they did not find water.

And they came to Marah, and they were not able to drink water from Marah because it was bitter. Therefore {it was named} Marah.

And they came to Elim, and twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees were there, and they encamped there at the water.

And they set out from Elim, and all the community of the {Israelites} came to the desert of Sin, which [is] between Elim {and Sinai}, in the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out from the land of Egypt.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, I am going to rain down for you bread from the heavens, and the people will go out and gather enough for the day on its day; in that way I will test them: Will they go according to my law or not?

And then on the sixth day, they will prepare what they bring, and it will be twice over what they will gather every [other] day."

And at the moment of Aaron's speaking to all the community of the {Israelites}, they turned to the desert, {and just then} the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud.