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."

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."'

"The elders of Israel will listen to you, and then you and they are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, "The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now, let us take a three-day journey into the desert to sacrifice to the LORD our God.'

so I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do there. After that he will release you.

I will grant this people public favor with the Egyptians, and as a result, when you leave you won't go empty-handed.

Each woman is to ask her neighbor or any foreign woman in her house for articles of gold and for clothing, and use them to clothe your sons and daughters. You will plunder the Egyptians."

But if they don't believe even these two signs, and won't listen to you, then take some water out of the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. The water you took from the Nile River will turn into blood on the dry ground."

Now, go! I myself will help you with your speech, and I'll teach you what you are to say."

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.

And I say to you, "Let my son go so he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, then I will kill your firstborn son.'"'"

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!"

I'll take you for my own people, and I'll be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

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."

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

The LORD told Moses, "Listen! I've positioned you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

You are to speak everything that I've commanded you, and then your brother Aaron will speak to Pharaoh, telling him to let the Israelis go out of his land.

The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand over Egypt to bring the Israelis out from among them."

"When Pharaoh says to you, "Perform a miraculous sign,' then you are to say to Aaron, "Take your staff and throw it in front of Pharaoh.' It will become a serpent."

""This is what the LORD says: "This is how you'll know that I am the LORD: Right now I'm going to strike the water of the Nile River with the staff that's in my hand, and it will be turned to blood.

The fish in the Nile River will die and the river will stink. The Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile River."'"

The LORD also told Moses, "Tell Aaron, "Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their Nile River, over their ponds, and over their reservoirs, and they'll become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in their wood and stone containers.'"

The Nile will swarm with frogs. They'll come up and enter your house, your bedroom, your bed, and your servants' houses. They'll jump on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading troughs.

The frogs will be all over you and your servants."'"

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 the LORD told Moses, "Tell Aaron, "Stretch out your staff, strike the dust of the ground, and the dust will become gnats throughout the land of Egypt.'"

But if you don't let my people go, I'll send swarms of insects upon you, your servants, your people, and your households. The houses of Egypt and even the ground on which they stand will be filled with swarms of insects.

On that day I'll treat the land of Goshen where my people live differently so that swarms of insects won't be there. As a result, you will know that I the LORD am in the midst of the land.

I'll make a distinction between my people and your people, and this sign will occur tomorrow."'"

"It wouldn't be right to sacrifice in this way," Moses replied, "because if we do, we will sacrifice to the LORD our God what is offensive to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are offensive to the Egyptians in front of them, they'll stone us, won't they?

then the hand of the LORD will comewith a very severe plague on your livestock in the fields, on horses, on donkeys, on camels, on cattle, and on sheep.

The LORD will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians, so that nothing that belongs to the Israelis will die."'"

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

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 send for your livestock and everything that belongs to you that's out in the field, because every person and animal found in the field that has not been brought inside to shelters will die when the hail comes down on them."'"

Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people, animals, and all the vegetation of the field throughout the land of Egypt."

Moses told him, "When I leave the city I'll spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease and the hail won't continue, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the LORD.

The wheat and the wild grainwere not ruined because they were late crops.)

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, "This is what the LORD God of the Hebrews says: "How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so they may serveme.

Your houses will be filled, along with the houses of all your officials and the houses of all the Egyptians something that neither your fathers nor your ancestors ever saw from the time they were on earth until now.'" Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh's presence.

Then the officials of Pharaoh told him, "How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go so they may serve the LORD their God! Don't you realize yet that Egypt is about to be destroyed?"

Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh and he told them, "Go, serve the LORD your God. But exactly who will go?"

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."

Then Pharaoh told them, "The LORD will certainly be with you if I let you and your little ones go. I know some evil plan is in your mind.

Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch your hand toward the sky and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that one can feel."

And even our livestock must go with us. Not a hoof will be left behind because we will use some of them to serve the LORD our God, and until we get there we won't know what we need to serve the LORD."

Then Pharaoh told him, "Get away from me! Watch out that you never see my face again, because on the day you see my face, you will die!"

Then the LORD told Moses, "I'll bring one more plague on Pharaoh and Egypt. After that he'll let you leave from here, and when he lets you go, he will certainly drive you out from here.

and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave girl who operatesthe hand mill, along with the firstborn of the animals.

There will be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt, like there has never been and never will be again.

But among the Israelis, from people to animals, not even a dog will bark, so you may know that the LORD is distinguishing between the Egyptians and the Israelis.'

All these officials of yours will come down to me, prostrate themselves to me, and say, "Get out, you and all the people following you!' After that I'll go out." Then Moses angrily left Pharaoh.

The LORD told Moses, "Pharaoh won't listen to you. As a result, my wonders will increase throughout the land of Egypt."

"This month will mark the beginning of months for you. It will be the first month of the year for you.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. I'll see the blood and pass over you. There will be no plague to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day be sure to remove all the leaven from your houses, because any person who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh will be cut off from Israel.

because the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway, and won't allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.

When you enter the land that the LORD will give you, just as he promised, you are to observe this ritual.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelis take this solemn oath: "God will certainly take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones up with you from here."

Pharaoh will say about the Israelis, "They're wandering aimlessly in the land, and the desert has closed in on them.'

I've made Pharaoh's heart stubborn so he will pursue them. But I'll receive honor by means of Pharaoh and his army, so that the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." So this is what the Israelis did.

Moses told the people, "Don't be afraid! Stand still and watch how the LORD will deliver you today, because you will never again see the Egyptians whom you're looking at today.

The LORD will fight for you while you keep still."

Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I receive honor by means of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea and the water will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, and over their horsemen."

"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.'

"You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. You have made a place where you will reside, LORD. Your own hands have established a sanctuary, LORD.

The LORD will reign forever and ever."

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."

On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be double what they gather on other days."

So Moses and Aaron addressed the entire congregation of the Israelis: "This evening you will know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt,

and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaints against him. After all, who are we that you complain against us?"

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."

Then the LORD asked Moses, "How long will you people refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions?

I'll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock and water will come out of it, so the people can drink." Moses did this in front of the elders of Israel.

"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."

Moses told his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will.

You will certainly wear yourself out, both you and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot do it by yourself.

They are to judge the people at all times. Let them bring every major matter to you, but let them judge every minor matter. It will lighten your burden, and they'll bear it with you.

If you do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will also go to their homes in peace."

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.

Even the priests who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves. Otherwise, the LORD will attack them."

The LORD told him, "Go down, and come back up with Aaron, but the priests and the people must not break through to go up to the LORD. Otherwise, he will attack them."

"You are not to misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave unpunished the one who misuses his name.

They told Moses, "You speak to us and we will listen, but don't let God speak with us, or we may die.

If you make an altar of stone for me, you must not build it of cut stones, because if you strike it with your chisel, you will profane it.

"If two men are fighting and they strike a pregnant woman and her children are born prematurely, but there is no harm, he is certainly to be fined as the husband of the woman demands of him, and he will pay as the court decides.

the owner of the pit is to make restitution. He is to pay money to its owner, and the dead animal will become his.

But if it was known that the ox had gored previously, and its owner didn't restrain it, he shall certainly repay ox for ox, and the dead ox will become his."

And I'll be angry and will kill you with swords, and your wives will become widows and your children orphans.

but you are to let it rest the seventh year, leaving it unplanted. The poor of your people may eat from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. You are to do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.

because my angel will go ahead of you and will bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I'll annihilate them.

You are to serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your food and water, and I'll remove sickness from you.

No woman will miscarry or be barren in your land, and I'll make every day of your life complete.

I won't drive them out before you in a single year, so that the land does not become desolate and so that wild animals do not overrun you.

They are not to live in your land. Otherwise they will cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will become a snare for you."

Then Moses came and reported all the words of the LORD and all the statutes to the people, and they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has decreed."

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."

You are to put the Testimony that I will give you into the ark.

You are to make its plates, dishes, jars, and bowls from which libations will be poured, and you are to make them of pure gold.

Then you are to make 50 gold clasps, and join the curtains to each other with the clasps so that the tent will be one piece.