So the Lord saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea.

When Israel saw the great power that the Lord had exercised over the Egyptians, they feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he has thrown into the sea, and his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea.

The depths have covered them, they went down to the bottom like a stone.

By the blast of your nostrils the waters were piled up, the flowing water stood upright like a heap, and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea.

But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia.

Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, trembling will seize the leaders of Moab, and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.

Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of your arm they will be as still as stone until your people pass by, O Lord, until the people whom you have bought pass by.

You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place you made for your residence, O Lord, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.

The Lord will reign forever and ever!

For the horses of Pharaoh came with his chariots and his footmen into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them, but the Israelites walked on dry land in the middle of the sea."

Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand-drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand-drums and with dances.

Miriam sang in response to them, "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea."

Then Moses led Israel to journey away from the Red Sea. They went out to the Desert of Shur, walked for three days into the desert, and found no water.

He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When Moses threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink. There the Lord made for them a binding ordinance, and there he tested them.

He said, "If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the Lord, am your healer."

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.

When they journeyed from Elim, the entire company of Israelites came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their exodus from the land of Egypt.

The entire company of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron in the desert.

The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger!"

Then the Lord said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. Will they will walk in my law or not?

On the sixth day they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather every other day."

Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the 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 murmurings against the Lord. As for us, what are we, that you should murmur against us?"

Moses said, "You will know this when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satisfy you, because the Lord has heard your murmurings that you are murmuring against him. As for us, what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord."

As Aaron spoke to the whole community of the Israelites and they looked toward the desert, there the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud,

and the Lord spoke to Moses:

"I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, 'During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.'"

In the evening the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew was all around the camp.

The Israelites did so, and they gathered -- some more, some less.

When they measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing; each one had gathered what he could eat.

But they did not listen to Moses; some kept part of it until morning, and it was full of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them.

So they gathered it each morning, each person according to what he could eat, and when the sun got hot, it would melt.

And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers per person; and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses.

He said to them, "This is what the Lord has said: 'Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Whatever you want to bake, bake today; whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.'"

So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.

On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing.

So the Lord said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to obey my commandments and my instructions?

The house of Israel called its name "manna." It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey.

Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the Lord to be kept for generations to come."

The whole community of the Israelites traveled on their journey from the Desert of Sin according to the Lord's instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. Now there was no water for the people to drink.

So the people contended with Moses, and they said, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?"

But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, "Why in the world did you bring us up out of Egypt -- to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What will I do with this people? -- a little more and they will stone me!"

The Lord said to Moses, "Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go.

I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink." And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel.

He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"

Amalek came and attacked Israel in Rephidim.

So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

So Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him;and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

When the hands of Moses became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and so his hands were steady until the sun went down.

So Joshua destroyed Amalek and his army with the sword.

The Lord said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua's hearing; for I will surely wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

Moses built an altar, and he called it "The Lord is my Banner,"

Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard about all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (for Moses had said, "I have been a foreigner in a foreign land"),

and the other Eliezer (for Moses had said, "The God of my father has been my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh").

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, together with Moses' sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert where he was camping by the mountain of God.

He said to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, along with your wife and her two sons with her."

Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him; they each asked about the other's welfare, and then they went into the tent.

Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for Israel's sake, and all the hardship that had come on them along the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.

Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord who has delivered you from the hand of Egypt, and from the hand of Pharaoh, who has delivered the people from the Egyptians' control!

Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat food with the father-in-law of Moses before God.

On the next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.

When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting by yourself, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?"

When they have a dispute, it comes to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws."

You will surely wear out, both you and these people who are with you, for this is too heavy a burden for you; you are not able to do it by yourself.

Now listen to me, I will give you advice, and may God be with you: You be a representative for the people to God, and you bring their disputes to God;

warn them of the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.

But you choose from the people capable men, God-fearing, men of truth, those who hate bribes, and put them over the people as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

They will judge the people under normal circumstances, and every difficult case they will bring to you, but every small case they themselves will judge, so that you may make it easier for yourself, and they will bear the burden with you.

If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will be able to go home satisfied."

Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he had said.

Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and so Jethro went to his own land.

In the third month after the Israelites went out from the land of Egypt, on the very day, they came to the Desert of Sinai.

After they journeyed from Rephidim, they came to the Desert of Sinai, and they camped in the desert; Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, "Thus you will tell the house of Jacob, and declare to the people of Israel:

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine,

and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites."

So Moses came and summoned the elders of Israel. He set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him,

and all the people answered together, "All that the Lord has commanded we will do!" So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord.

The Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so that they will always believe in you." And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

The Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and make them wash their clothes

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.

Then Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes.

On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled.

Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain.

Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking and God was answering him with a voice.

The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

The Lord said to Moses, "Go down and solemnly warn the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish.

Moses said to the Lord, "The people are not able to come up to Mount Sinai, because you solemnly warned us, 'Set boundaries for the mountain and set it apart.'"

The Lord said to him, "Go, get down, and come up, and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the Lord, lest he break through against them."

So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,