the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flaming fire from the center of a bush. As Moses continued to watch, amazingly the bush kept on burning, but was not consumed.

"Do not come any closer," God said. "Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground."

Then Moses told the LORD, "Please, LORD, I'm not eloquent. I never was in the past nor am I now since you spoke to your servant. In fact, I talk too slowly and I have a speech impediment."

Then God asked him, "Who gives a person a mouth? Who makes him unable to speak, or deaf, or able to see, or blind, or lame? Is it not I, the LORD?

Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God so he does not strike us with pestilence or sword."

But you're to impose the previous quota of bricks that they're making. You're not to reduce it! It is because they're lazy that they're crying out, "Let's go offer sacrifices to our God.'

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, and did I not reveal to them my name "LORD'?

Then Moses reported this to the Israelis, but they did not listen to Moses due to their irritation and impatience because there was no deliverance and because of the cruel bondage.

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?"

Yet Pharaoh's heart was stubborn and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said would happen.

The fish in the Nile River died and the river stank. The Egyptians were not able to drink water from the Nile River, and blood was throughout the land of Egypt.

But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their secret arts. Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

All the Egyptians dug around the Nile River for water to drink because they could not drink from the water in the Nile River.

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 told Pharaoh, "It is the finger of God!" But Pharaoh's heart was stubborn and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had predicted.

Then Pharaoh said, "I'll let you go so you can offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert. But you must not go very far away. Pray for me."

Moses said, "Right now I'm going to leave you, and I'll pray to the LORD that the swarms of insects may depart from Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people tomorrow. But Pharaoh, don't continue lying by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD."

The LORD did what Moses asked, and the swarms of insects departed from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. Not one remained.

But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart, and he did not let the people go.

The LORD did this thing the next day, and all the livestock of the Egyptians died. But not one of the livestock died that belonged to the Israelis.

Then Pharaoh inquired and discovered that not a single one of the livestock of Israel had died, but Pharaoh's heart was stubborn and he would not let the people go.

The magicians were not able to stand before Moses because of the boils, because the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

The LORD made Pharaoh's heart stubborn so that he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had told Moses.

You are still acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go.

Look! About this time tomorrow, I'll send a severe hail storm, such as has not happened in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

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."'"

But whoever did not pay attention to the message from the LORD left his servants and his livestock outside in the fields.

There was very heavy hail, and lightning was flashing continuously in the midst of the hail. There had not been anything like it in the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Pray to the LORD! There has been enough of God's thunder and hail! I'll let you go, and you need not stay any longer."

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

Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he did not let the Israelis go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD sent an east wind into the land all that day and throughout the night. When morning came, the east wind brought the locusts.

Then the LORD brought a very strong west wind that took the locusts and drove them into the Reed Sea. Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.

But the LORD made Pharaoh's heart stubborn and he would not let the Israelis go.

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."

The LORD made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he did not want to let them go.

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.'

Moses and Aaron did all these wonders in front of Pharaoh, but the LORD made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he would not let the Israelis go out from his land.

That very night they're to eat the meat, roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

I'll pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I'll execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.

For seven days leaven is not to be found in your houses. Indeed, any person who eats anything leavened, is to be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land.

You are not to eat what is leavened. You are to eat unleavened bread in all your settlements.'"

Pharaoh got up during the night, he, all his officials, and all the Egyptians, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, because there was not a house without someone dead in it.

Then he summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and told them: "Get up, go out from among my people, both you and the Israelis! Go, serve the LORD as you have said.

About 600,000 Israeli men traveled from Rameses to Succoth on foot, not counting children.

They baked the dough that they brought out of Egypt into thin cakes of unleavened bread. It had not been leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

That was for the LORD a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night belongs to the LORD, and is to be a vigil for all the Israelis from generation to generation.

It is to be eaten in one house, and you are not to take any of the meat outside the house, nor are you to break any of its bones.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearer, because God had said, "If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt."

The LORD went in front of them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel both day and night.

Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

Is this not what we told you in Egypt, when we said, "Leave us alone!' and "Let us serve the Egyptians!'? Indeed, it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"

coming between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. The cloud remained there even in the darkness, illuminating the night, so that the one side did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD caused the water to retreat by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. As the waters were divided,

The water returned, covering the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh's entire army that had pursued the Israelis into the sea. Not a single one of them remained.

Then Moses led Israel from the Reed Sea and they went to the desert of Shur. They traveled into the desert for three days and did not find water.

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter. (That is why it's called Marah.)

The LORD told Moses, "Listen very carefully! I'll cause food to rain down for you from heaven, and the people are to go out and gather each day's portion on that day. In this way I'll test them to demonstrate whether or not they'll live according to my instructions.

When the Israelis saw it, they asked one another, "What is it?", because they did not know what it was.

When they measured it with a vessel the capacity of which was one omer, the one who gathered much did not have an excess, while the one who gathered little did not lack. They gathered exactly what each needed to eat.

But they did not listen to Moses some people left part of it until morning, and it produced maggots and smelled bad, so Moses got angry at them.

So they put it away until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not smell bad, and there were no maggots in it.

Nevertheless, that seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find any.

He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelis quarreled and tested the LORD by saying: "Is the LORD really among us or not?"

Moses' father-in-law told him, "What you are doing is not good.

No hand is to touch that person, but he is certainly to be stoned or shot; whether animal or person, he is not to live.' They are to approach the mountain only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast."

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 craft for yourselves an idol or anything resembling what is in the skies above, or on earth beneath, or in the water sources under the earth.

You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the guilt of parents on children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

"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.

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You are not to do any work neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your livestock, nor any foreigner who lives among you

"You are not to commit murder.

"You are not to commit adultery.

"You are not to steal.

"You are not to give false testimony against your neighbor.

"You are not to desire your neighbor's house, nor your neighbor's wife, his male or female servant, his ox, his donkey, nor anything else that pertains to your neighbor."

You are not to make gods of silver alongside me, nor are you to make for yourselves gods of gold.

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.

You are not to ascend to my altar on steps, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.'"

If she's displeasing to her master who selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He does not have the right to sell her to foreign people, because he has dealt unfairly with her.

If he takes another woman for himself, he may not withhold from the first her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.

If he does not do these three things for her, she may go out without paying anything at all."

"If people quarrel and one strikes the other with a rock or his fist, and he does not die but ends up in bed,

and the injured person then gets up and walks around outside with the help of his staff, the one who struck him is not liable, except that he is to compensate him for his loss of time and take care of his complete recovery.

But if the servant survives a day or two, the master is not to be punished because the servant is his property.

"If an ox gores a man or woman so that they die, the ox is certainly to be stoned and its flesh may not be eaten, but the owner of the ox is free from liability.

If a man opens a pit or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or donkey falls into it,

"If a thief is found while breaking into a house, and is struck down and dies, it is not a capital crime in that case,

If the thief is not found, the owner of the house is to appear before the judges to see whether or not the thief took his neighbor's property.

the two of them are to take an oath in the LORD's presence that the accused has not taken his neighbor's property. Its owner is to accept this, and the neighbor is not to make restitution.

If it was torn to pieces, let the neighbor bring the remains as evidence, and he is not to make restitution for what was torn apart.

"When a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it's injured or dies while its owner was not with it, he is certainly to make restitution.

If its owner was with it, he is not to make restitution. If it was hired, its fee covers the loss."

"When a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and has sexual relations with her, he must pay her bride price, and she is to become his wife.

"You are not to allow a sorceress to live.

"You are not to wrong or oppress an alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

"You are not to mistreat any widow or orphan.

"You are not to blaspheme God or curse a ruler of your people.

"You are not to hold back the fullness of your harvest and the outflow of your wine presses. You are to give to me the firstborn of your sons.