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.

They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been in the land until this day!'" Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh.

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?"

Moses said, "We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold a pilgrim feast for the Lord."

He said to them, "The Lord will need to be with you if I release you and your dependents! Watch out! Trouble is right in front of 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.

The Lord said to Moses, "Extend your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat everything that grows in the ground, everything that the hail has left."

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!

The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory of Egypt. It was very severe; there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again.

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.

Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you!

So now, forgive my sin this time only, and pray to the Lord your God that he would only take this death away from me."

Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not release the Israelites.

So Moses extended his hand toward heaven, and there was absolute darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.

No one could see another person, and no one could rise from his place for three days. But the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, "Go, serve the Lord -- only your flocks and herds will be detained. Even your families may go with you."

But Moses said, "Will you also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may present them to the Lord our God?

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to release them.

The Lord said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will release you from this place. When he releases you, he will drive you out completely from this place.

Instruct the people that each man and each woman is to request from his or her neighbor items of silver and gold."

(Now the Lord granted the people favor with the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, respected by Pharaoh's servants and by the Egyptian people.)

and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark against either people or animals, so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.'

All these your servants will come down to me and bow down to me, saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you,' and after that I will go out." Then Moses went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not release the Israelites from his land.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to take a lamb according to the number of people -- you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat.

You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown.

They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it.

They will eat the meat the same night; they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs.

Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails.

This is how you are to eat it -- dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.

I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.

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 will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord -- you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

On the first day there will be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind on them, only what every person will eat -- that alone may be prepared for you.

So you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your regiments out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel, and told them, "Go and select for yourselves a lamb or young goat for your families, and kill the Passover animals.

Take a branch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out the door of his house until morning.

For the Lord will pass through to strike Egypt, and when he sees the blood on the top of the doorframe and the two side posts, then the Lord will pass over the door, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever.

then you will say, 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck Egypt and delivered our households.'" The people bowed down low to the ground,

and the Israelites went away and did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

It happened at midnight -- the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

Pharaoh got up in the night, along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house in which there was not someone dead.

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, "Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested!

Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also."

Now the Israelites had done as Moses told them -- they had requested from the Egyptians silver and gold items and clothing.

The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they gave them whatever they wanted, and so they plundered Egypt.

A mixed multitude also went up with them, and flocks and herds -- a very large number of cattle.

They baked cakes of bread without yeast using the dough they had brought from Egypt, for it was made without yeast -- because they were thrust out of Egypt and were not able to delay, they could not prepare food for themselves either.

At the end of the 430 years, on the very day, all the regiments of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt.

It was a night of vigil for the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt, and so on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil to the Lord for generations to come.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner may share in eating it.

A foreigner and a hired worker must not eat it.

It must be eaten in one house; you must not bring any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it.

"When a foreigner lives with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may approach and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land -- but no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

The same law will apply to the person who is native-born and to the foreigner who lives among you."

So all the Israelites did exactly as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

And on this very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.

Moses said to the people, "Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt, from the place where you were enslaved, for the Lord brought you out of there with a mighty hand -- and no bread made with yeast may be eaten.

When the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, then you will keep this ceremony in this month.

For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord.

Bread made without yeast must be eaten for seven days; no bread made with yeast shall be seen among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders.

It will be a sign for you on your hand and a memorial on your forehead, so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.

When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you,

Every firstling of a donkey you must redeem with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, then you must break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you must redeem.

It will be for a sign on your hand and for frontlets on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt."

When Pharaoh released the people, God did not lead them by the way to the land of the Philistines, although that was nearby, for God said, "Lest the people change their minds and return to Egypt when they experience war."

So God brought the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea, and the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt prepared for battle.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the Israelites solemnly swear, "God will surely attend to you, and you will carry my bones up from this place with you."

They journeyed from Sukkoth and camped in Etham, on the edge of the desert.

Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel day or night.

"Tell the Israelites that they must turn and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you are to camp by the sea before Baal Zephon opposite it.

I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them. I will gain honor because of Pharaoh and because of all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." So this is what they did.

When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, "What in the world have we done? For we have released the people of Israel from serving us!"

Then he prepared his chariots and took his army with him.

He took six hundred select chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, and officers on all of them.

But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he chased after the Israelites. Now the Israelites were going out defiantly.

The Egyptians chased after them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-Zephon.

When Pharaoh got closer, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified. The Israelites cried out to the Lord,

and they said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What in the world have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord that he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again.

The Lord will fight for you, and you can be still."

And as for you, lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites may go through the middle of the sea on dry ground.

And as for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will come after them, that I may be honored because of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen.

And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I have gained my honor because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

The angel of God, who was going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.

It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other the whole night.

Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided.

So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

The Egyptians chased them and followed them into the middle of the sea -- all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

In the morning watch the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian army into a panic.

He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving, and the Egyptians said, "Let's flee from Israel, for the Lord fights for them against Egypt!"

The Lord said to Moses, "Extend your hand toward the sea, so that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen!"

So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state when the sun began to rise. Now the Egyptians were fleeing before it, but the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.

The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea -- not so much as one of them survived!

But the Israelites walked on dry ground in the middle of the sea, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.