Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near to him.

He blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,

When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

He blessed them that day, saying, "In you will Israel bless, saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh'" He set Ephraim before Manasseh.

Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.

Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."

Jacob called to his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.

Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.

Boiling over as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father's bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.

My soul, do not come into their council. My glory, do not be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.

Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor.

"Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns.

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing.

He instructed them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.

Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.

Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.

When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt,

They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sorrowful lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days.

His sons did to him just as he commanded them,

Joseph returned into Egypt?he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him."

They sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father commanded before he died, saying,

'You shall tell Joseph, "Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you."' Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Now therefore do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones." He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.

Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees.

Joseph said to his brothers, "I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."

He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.

Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land."

Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah,

and he said, "When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live."

But the midwives feared God, and did not do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.

The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and have saved the boys alive?"

The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them."

His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The maiden went and called the child's mother.

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.

The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"

He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"

He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."

Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.

It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God's mountain, to Horeb.

The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses. Moses." He said, "Here I am."

He said, "Do not come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground."

Moreover he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.

I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

He said, "Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."

Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?"

God said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

God said moreover to Moses, "You shall tell the children of Israel this, 'The LORD, 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, and this is my memorial to all generations.

Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;

and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'

They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD, our God.'

I know that the king of Egypt won't give you permission to go, except by a mighty hand.

I will put forth my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in its midst, and after that he will let you go.

Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'"

The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."

The LORD said to Moses, "Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail." He put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.

"That they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

The LORD said furthermore to him, "Now put your hand inside your cloak." He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.

"It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."

Moses said to the LORD, "Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."

The LORD said to him, "Who made man's mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn't it I, the LORD?

The anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, "What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he comes forth to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.

He will be your spokesman to the people; and it will happen, that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.

You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."

Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

The LORD said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead."

Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God's rod in his hand.

The LORD said to Moses, "When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

and I have said to you, "Let my son go, that he may serve me;" and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"

It happened on the way at a lodging place, that the LORD met him and wanted to kill him.

Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." He went, and met him on God's mountain, and kissed him.

Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'"

Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go."

They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword."

The king of Egypt said to them, "Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens."