So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. As a result the Egyptians loathed the Israelites,

Moses said to God, "If I go to the Israelites and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' -- what should I say to them?"

Every woman will ask her neighbor and the one who happens to be staying in her house for items of silver and gold and for clothing. You will put these articles on your sons and daughters -- thus you will plunder Egypt!"

"So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you both what you must do.

He will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were his God.

"You must no longer give straw to the people for making bricks as before. Let them go and collect straw for themselves.

The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh's slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked, "Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past -- both yesterday and today?"

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name 'the Lord' I was not known to them.

I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as resident foreigners.

I will bring you to the land I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob -- and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord!'"

And Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.

When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them -- Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake.

Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord had commanded. Moses raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile right before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts, and so Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron -- just as the Lord had predicted.

He said, "Tomorrow." And Moses said, "It will be as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

The Lord did as Moses asked -- the frogs died out of the houses, the villages, and the fields.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

The magicians said to Pharaoh, "It is the finger of God!" But Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

The Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, "Release my people that they may serve me!

We must go on a three-day journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, just as he is telling us."

and the Lord did as Moses asked -- he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained!

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses.

I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God."

So Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not release the Israelites, as the Lord had predicted through Moses.

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.

Moses said, "As you wish! I will not see your face again."

There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.

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.

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.

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

When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe this ceremony.

When your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' --

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

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.

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

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,

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.

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!

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.

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

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 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.

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.

Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony for safekeeping.

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.

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.

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.

"Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

"If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she will not go out as the male servants do.

"If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she dies as a result of the blow, he will surely be punished.

"If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the eye.

If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.

"You must not follow a crowd in doing evil things; in a lawsuit you must not offer testimony that agrees with a crowd so as to pervert justice,

You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before me empty-handed.

"I am going to send an angel before you to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.

"You are to make the frames for the tabernacle out of acacia wood as uprights.

You are to make the altar hollow, out of boards. Just as it was shown you on the mountain, so they must make it.

"And you, bring near to you your brother Aaron and his sons with him from among the Israelites, so that they may minister as my priests -- Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.

You are to speak to all who are specially skilled, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they may make Aaron's garments to set him apart to minister as my priest.

Now these are the garments that they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for your brother Aaron and for his sons, that they may minister as my priests.

"You are to make a breastpiece for use in making decisions, the work of an artistic designer; you are to make it in the same fashion as the ephod; you are to make it of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen.

The robe is to be on Aaron as he ministers, and his sound will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he leaves, so that he does not die.

"You are to clothe them -- your brother Aaron and his sons with him -- and anoint them and ordain them and set them apart as holy, so that they may minister as my priests.

"Now this is what you are to do for them to consecrate them so that they may minister as my priests. Take a young bull and two rams without blemish;

You are to put all these in Aaron's hands and in his sons' hands, and you are to wave them as a wave offering before the Lord.

You are to take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration; you are to wave it as a wave offering before the Lord, and it is to be your share.

You are to sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution, which were waved and lifted up as a contribution from the ram of consecration, from what belongs to Aaron and to his sons.

Every day you are to prepare a bull for a purification offering for atonement. You are to purge the altar by making atonement for it, and you are to anoint it to set it apart as holy.

For seven days you are to make atonement for the altar and set it apart as holy. Then the altar will be most holy. Anything that touches the altar will be holy.

With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering.

The second lamb you are to offer around sundown; you are to prepare for it the same meal offering as for the morning and the same drink offering, for a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

There I will meet with the Israelites, and it will be set apart as holy by my glory.

"So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me.

When they enter the tent of meeting, they must wash with water so that they do not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by burning incense as an offering made by fire to the Lord,

"You are to anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify them, so that they may minister as my priests.

Whoever makes anything like it, to use as perfume, will be cut off from his people."

the woven garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons, to minister as priests,

the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the Holy Place. They will make all these things just as I have commanded you."

The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, "Get up, make us gods that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!"

When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "It is the sound of war in the camp!"

They said to me, 'Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'

So Moses cut out two tablets of stone like the first; early in the morning he went up to Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

He said, "See, I am going to make a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you.

and you then take his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well.

"You must keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you; do this at the appointed time of the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

the woven garments for serving in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to minister as priests."

Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood for any work of the service brought it.

He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, as designers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and as weavers. They are craftsmen in all the work and artistic designers.

He made the frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood as uprights.

He also made two gold rings for it under its border, on its two sides, on opposite sides, as places for poles to carry it with.