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 he said, "When you help the Hebrews give birth, you will look upon the pairs of testicles; if he [is] a son, you will put him to death, and if she [is] a daughter, she will live."

And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you will throw into the Nile, and every daughter you will let live."

And his sister said to the daughter of Pharaoh, "Shall I go and call for you a woman from the Hebrews [who is] nursing [so that] she will nurse the boy for you?"

And the daughter of Pharaoh said, "Take this boy and nurse him for me, and I myself will give you wages, and the woman took the boy, and she nursed him.

And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and [you must] bring my people, the {Israelites}, out from Egypt."

And he said, "Because I am with you, and this [will be] the sign for you that I myself have sent you: When you bring the people out from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain."

And I said, "I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey." '

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.'

But I myself know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go {unless compelled by a strong hand}.

And I will stretch out my hand, and I will strike Egypt with all of my wonders that I will do in its midst, and {afterward} he will release you.

And I will give this people favor in the eyes of [the] Egyptians, {and then} when you go, you will not go empty-handed.

And a woman will ask from her neighbor and from the woman dwelling as an alien in her house [for] objects of silver and objects of gold and garments, and you will put [them] on your sons and on your daughters; and you will plunder Egypt."

"{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."

So then go, and I myself will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you must speak."

{And Yahweh was angry with} Moses and said, "[Is there] not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he certainly can speak, and also there he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart.

And you will speak to him, and you will put words in his mouth, and I myself will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you must do.

And he will speak for you to the people, {and then} he will be to you as a mouth, and you will be to him as a god.

And you must take this staff in your hand, with which you will do the signs."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "When you go to return to Egypt, see all of the wonders that I have put in your hand, and do them before Pharaoh, and I myself will harden his heart, and he will not release the people.

And Pharaoh said, "Who is Yahweh that I should listen to his voice to release Israel? I do not know Yahweh, and also I will not release Israel."

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

And now go, work, but straw will not be given to you, and you must give the full quota of bricks."

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 Yahweh said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, because with a strong hand he will release them, and with a strong hand he will drive them out from his land."

Therefore say to the {Israelites}, 'I [am] Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the {forced labor} of Egypt, and I will deliver you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great punishments.

And I will take you {as my people}, and I will be {your God}, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the {forced labor} of Egypt.

And I will bring you to the land {that I swore} to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you [as] a possession. I [am] Yahweh."

And Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, "Look, the {Israelites} do not listen to me, and how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I [am] {a poor speaker}?"

And Moses said before Yahweh, "Look, I [am] {a poor speaker}. And how will Pharaoh listen to me?"

And Yahweh said to Moses, "See, I have made you [as] a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

You will speak all that I will command you, and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh, and he will release the {Israelites} from his land.

And I myself will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and I will make my signs and my wonders numerous in the land of Egypt.

And Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will put my hand into Egypt and bring out my divisions, my people, the {Israelites}, from the land of Egypt with great punishments.

And [the] Egyptians will know that I [am] Yahweh when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring the {Israelites} out from their midst."

"When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Do a wonder for yourselves,' you will say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.'"

Thus says Yahweh, "By this you will know that I [am] Yahweh. Look, I [am about to] strike with the staff that is in my hand the water that is in the Nile, and it will be changed to blood.

And the fish that [are] in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink, and [the] Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile." '"

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 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 frogs will go up against you and against your people and against all of your servants.'"

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 he said, "Tomorrow." And he said, "[Let it be] according to your word so that you will know that there is no one like Yahweh our God.

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

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it will become gnats in all the land of Egypt.'"

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.

But on that day I will distinguish the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, by there not being flies there, so that you will know that I [am] Yahweh in the midst of the land.

And I will put a distinction between my people and your people; this sign will be tomorrow.'"

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?

We will go a journey of three days into the desert, and we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God according to what he says to us."

And Pharaoh said, "I myself will release you, and you will sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the desert. Only surely you must not go far. Pray for me."

And Moses said, "Look, I [am] going out from you, and I will pray to Yahweh so that the flies depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh again deceive [us] by not releasing the people to sacrifice to Yahweh."

But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a thing will die from all [that belongs] to the {Israelites}.'"

And Yahweh set an appointed time, saying, "Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land."

And it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it will become on humans and on animals a skin sore sprouting blisters in all the land of Egypt."

For at this time I [am] sending all of my plagues {to you personally} and among your servants and among your people so that you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

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." '"

Pray to Yahweh. The thunder of God and hail {are enough}, and I will release you, and {you will no longer have to stay}."

And Moses said to him, "At my leaving the city, I will spread out my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will stop, and the hail will be no more, so that you will know that the earth [belongs] to Yahweh.

so that you will tell in the ears of your child and {your grandchild} that I dealt harshly with [the] Egyptians and [so that you will tell about] my signs that I have done among them, and so you will know that I [am] Yahweh."

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 Moses said, "With our young and with our old we will go; with our sons and with our daughters, with our sheep and goats and with our cattle we will go because [it is] the feast of Yahweh for us."

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.

our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof can be left because we must take from them to serve Yahweh our God. And we will not know [with] what we are to serve Yahweh until we come there."

And Pharaoh said to him, "Go from me. {Be careful} not to see my face again, because on the day of your seeing my face you will die."

And Moses said, "{That is right}. {I will not again see your face}."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Still one plague I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterward he will release you from here. At the moment of his releasing, he will certainly drive you completely out from here.

And Moses said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'About the middle of the night I [will] go out through the midst of Egypt,

and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave woman who [is] behind the pair of millstones and every firstborn animal.

And there will be a great cry of distress in all the land of Egypt, the like of which has not been nor will be again.

But against all the {Israelites}, from a man to an animal, a dog will not [even] {bark}, so that you will know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.'

And all of these your servants will come down to me and bow to me, saying, 'Go out, you and all the people who [are] at your feet.' And afterward I will go out." And he went out from Pharaoh {in great anger}.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, {so that my wonders may multiply} in the land of Egypt."

"This month [will be] the beginning of months; it [will be] for you the first of the months of the year.

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 if the household is too small for a lamb, he and the neighbor nearest to his house will take [one] according to the number of persons; you will count out portions of the lamb {according to how much each one can eat}.

The lamb for you must be a male, without defect, in its first year; you will take [it] from the sheep or from the goats.

"{You will keep it} until the fourteenth day of this month, and all the assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it {at twilight}.

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}.

And this is how you will eat it--[with] your waists fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you will eat it in haste. It [is] Yahweh's Passover.

"And I will go through the land of Egypt during this night, and I will strike all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal, and I will do punishments among all of the gods of Egypt. I [am] Yahweh.

And the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and I will see the blood, and I will pass over you, and there will not be a destructive plague among you when I strike the land of Egypt.

"And this day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a religious feast for Yahweh throughout your generations; you will celebrate it as a lasting statute.

You will eat unleavened bread for seven days. Surely on the first day you shall remove yeast from your houses, because anyone [who] eats [food with] yeast from the first day until the seventh day--that person will be cut off from Israel.

It will be for you on the first day a holy assembly and on the seventh day a holy assembly; no work will be done on them; only what is eaten by every person, it alone will be prepared for you.

"And you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought out your divisions from the land of Egypt, and you will keep this day for your generations as a lasting statute.

On the first [day], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat unleavened bread until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.

For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, because {anyone eating food with yeast} will be cut off from the community of Israel--[whether] an alien or a native of the land.

You will eat no [food with] yeast; in all of your dwellings you will eat unleavened bread."

And take a bunch of hyssop and dip [it] into the blood that [is] in the basin and apply [some] of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. And you will not go out, anyone from the doorway of his house, until morning.

And Yahweh will go through to strike Egypt, and he will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to come to your houses to strike [you].

"And you will keep this event as a rule for you and for your children forever.

{And} when you come into the land that Yahweh will give to you, as he said, you will keep this {religious custom}.

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