and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.

So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

When she opened it, she saw the child—a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”

Then 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 boy and nursed him.

And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

And he will say, Who set thee for a chief man and judge over us? dost thou think to kill me as thou didst kill the Egyptian? and Moses will be afraid, and will say, Surely, this word was known.

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

And they will come to Reuel their father, and he will say, Wherefore hastened ye to come this day?

And he will say to his daughters, Where is he? for what this left ye the man? call to him and he shall eat bread.

So Moses thought: I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?

And he will say, Thou shalt not draw near hither; draw off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place which thou standest upon it, this is holy land.

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.

And I will come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of this land to a good and great land, to a land flowing milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites.

He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.”

God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: Yahweh, 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; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

And I will give these people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.

And Jehovah will say to him, What this in thy hand? and he will say, A rod.

“This will take place,” He continued, “so they will believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.”

Then you will say to Pharaoh: This is what Yahweh says: Israel is My firstborn son.

Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival for Me in the wilderness.”

And the measure of bricks which they made yesterday and the third day, ye shall put upon them; ye shall not take away from it, for they are slack; for this they cried, saying, We will go to sacrifice to our God.

So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not giving you straw.

And the scribes of the sons of Israel will be beaten, which Pharaoh's urgers on set over them, saying, Wherefore did ye not complete your allowance of brick as yesterday and the third day, also yesterday, also this day?

So the Israelite foremen went in and cried for help to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?

And he will say, Ye are idle, ye are idle: for this ye said, We will go to sacrifice to Jehovah.

So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have You caused trouble for this people? And why did You ever send me?

Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in Your name he has caused trouble for this people, and You haven’t delivered Your people at all.”

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For this say thou to the sons of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I brought you forth from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I delivered you from their work, and I redeemed you with an arm stretched out and with great judgments.

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

It was this Aaron and Moses whom the Lord told, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their divisions.”

They having spoken to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring forth the sons of Israel out of Egypt; this Moses and Aaron.

So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the Lord commanded them.

This is what Yahweh says: Here is how you will know that I am Yahweh. Watch. I will strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.

Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn’t even take this to heart.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him: This is what Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Have thou this glory over me: against what time shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs be destroyed from thee and thy houses, and remain in the river only?

And they did this. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and when he struck the dust of the earth, gnats were on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

“This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, Yahweh, am in the land.

I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.”

And the Lord did this. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ houses. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

But Moses said, “It is not right [or even possible] to do that, for we will sacrifice to the Lord our God what is repulsive and unacceptable to the Egyptians [that is, animals that the Egyptians consider sacred]. If we sacrifice what is repulsive and unacceptable to the Egyptians, will they not riot and stone us?

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

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.”

The Lord did this the next day. All the Egyptian livestock died, but none among the Israelite livestock died.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

For in this time I send all my plagues into thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people: so that thou shalt know that there is not as I in all the earth.

However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you My power and to make My name known in all the earth.

Tomorrow at this time I will rain down the worst hail that has ever occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

And there will be hail and fire taking hold in the midst of the hail, exceedingly heavy, which was not as this upon all the land of Egypt from the time it was for a nation.

Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned this time,” he said to them. “Yahweh is the Righteous One, and I and my people are the guilty ones.

Make prayer to the Lord; for there has been enough of these thunderings of God and this ice-storm; and I will let you go and will keep you no longer.

So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may worship Me.

And they filled thy houses and all the houses of thy servants, and the houses of all Egypt; which thy fathers saw not, and thy fathers' fathers, from the day they were upon the earth, even till this day. And he will turn away and go forth from Pharaoh.

Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship Yahweh their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?”

Not so: go now, ye men, and serve Jehovah; for this ye yourselves were seeking. And he will drive them out from before Pharaoh.

The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on all the territory of Egypt in great swarms. There had never been locusts like this before nor would there ever be again.

Please forgive my sin once more and make an appeal to Yahweh your God, so that He will take this death away from me.”

And Jehovah will say to Moses, Yet one blow will I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; after this he will send you forth from here; when his sending forth to go, driving, he will drive you out from here.

So Moses said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt,

And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and worship to me, saying, Go forth, thou, and all the people which are at thy feet: and after this I will go forth. And he will go forth from Pharaoh in the heat of anger.

“This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year.

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household.

If the household be too few for a sheep, then let him and his neighbor that is next unto this house, take according to the number of souls, and count unto a sheep according to every man's eating.

You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.

'And they have eaten the flesh in this night, roast with fire; with unleavened things and bitters they do eat it;

And you shall eat of it this way, with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in a hurry. It is Jehovah's passover.

And I passed over in the land of Egypt in this night, and I struck every first-born in the land of Egypt from man even to quadruped: and against all the gods of Egypt I will do judgments: I Jehovah.

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.

“This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

And in the first day a calling of holiness, and in the seventh day a calling of holiness shall be to you; every service shall not be done in them only what shall be eaten by every soul; this only shall be done by you.

“You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

“Keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your descendants.

When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as He promised, you are to observe this ritual.

When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean to you?’

And they said, This the sacrifice of the passing over to Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt in his striking the Egyptians, and he delivered our houses. And the people will bow down and will worship.

Then the Israelites went and did this; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

Take even your flocks and your herds as you asked and leave, and also bless me.”

And the Lord gave the people such favor in the Egyptians’ sight that they gave them what they requested. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.

And it will be from the end of thirty years and four hundred years, in this self-same day all the armies of Jehovah will go forth out of the land of Egypt

It was a night of vigil in honor of the Lord, because He would bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is in honor of the Lord, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner may eat it.

All the congregation of Israel are to celebrate this.

Then all the Israelites did this; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

And it will be in this self-same day, Jehovah brought forth the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their armies.

Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, for the Lord brought you out of here by the strength of His hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten.

This day came ye out in the month Abib.

When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ritual in this month.

On that day explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

And this will be for a sign to you on your hand and for a mark on your brow, so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth: for with a strong hand the Lord took you out of Egypt.

Keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

“In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘By the strength of His hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

And it shall be when Pharaoh was hard to send us forth, and Jehovah will kill every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of man to the firstborn of cattle; for this I sacrifice to Jehovah all bursting forth the womb, the males; and all the first-born of my sons I will redeem.

And this shall be as a token in thine hand, and as a thing hanged up between thine eyes: because the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand."

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelites swear a solemn oath, saying, “God will certainly come to your aid; then you must take my bones with you from this place.”

I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” So the Israelites did this.