Now when they had gone an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a [supernatural] dream, saying, "Get up and take the young child and His mother and hurry to Egypt. Stay there for as long as I tell you to, for Herod will be looking for the young child in order to kill Him."

So he got up, took the young child and His mother at night and went to Egypt.

They stayed there until Herod died, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying [Hosea 11:1], "I [i.e., God] called my Son out of Egypt."

Then when Herod was dead, an angel from the Lord appeared in a [supernatural] dream to Joseph [while he was still] in Egypt, saying,

And Jesus said to them, "The kings of the [unconverted] Gentiles lord it over their own people, and those who domineer over them are called 'Benefactors' [Note: This was a title used by Greek kings in Egypt and Syria].

Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and areas of Libya around Cyrene, Jewish and proselyte travelers from Rome,

And God said, 'I will judge the nation [i.e., Egypt] that enslaves them and [then] after my people are liberated, they will serve me in this place [i.e., Palestine].'

"[And when] these patriarchs, [still living in Canaan as young men], became jealous of [their brother] Joseph, they sold him [as a slave to traveling merchants who took him] to Egypt. But God was with him [during all that time],

and rescued him from all his troubles and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him a governor over Egypt and his [i.e., the king's] household.

"Now a great famine occurred all over Egypt and Canaan, causing extreme hardships, and our forefathers did not have enough to live on.

But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons [down there] on their first trip.

So, Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, along with our forefathers.

Their bodies were carried back [from Egypt] to Shechem and buried in the tomb that Abraham had purchased in Shechem from the sons of Hamor for a sum of silver. [Note: "Shechem" was a town in Israel, the country which in New Testament times was known as Samaria].

"But as the time when [the fulfillment of] the promise [God had made] to Abraham approached, the number of people [i.e., Hebrews] in Egypt grew

I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people there in Egypt and I have heard their groaning and I have determined to rescue them. Now [get ready], I will send you to Egypt [to lead out in their rescue].'

But the Hebrews refused [to acknowledge Moses as their leader], saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge [over us]?' [Nevertheless], God sent him [to Egypt] to be both a ruler and liberator [of the people] through the direction of [His] angel who appeared [to Moses] from the bush.

This man led them out [of Egypt], performing wonders and [miraculous] signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

[And yet] our forefathers refused to obey him, but rejected [his leadership] and turned back to Egypt in their hearts.

They said to Aaron [i.e., Moses' brother], 'Make gods to lead us, because we do not know what happened to this Moses who led us when we first left the country of Egypt.'

The God of Israel chose our forefathers [to be His people] and made them a great people when they lived in Egypt, and with His mighty power He led them out of it.

Now a certain Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria [Egypt] and an effective speaker, who was well-grounded in the [Old Testament] Scriptures, came to Ephesus.

For who were they who heard [God] and provoked [Him]? Was it not everyone who was led out of Egypt by Moses?

[It will] not be like the Agreement that I made with their forefathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the country of Egypt. For they did not [continue to] keep my Agreement, so I did not regard them [as acceptable], says the Lord.

By [having] faith, when Joseph was about to die, he mentioned the Israelites' departure [from Egypt] and gave [them] instructions concerning his bones [i.e., that they were to take them back to Palestine. See Gen. 50:25].

He considered suffering ridicule for Christ's sake to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking forward to his reward.

By [having] faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the king's anger, for he endured [all the rigors of wandering in the desert] because he could see the invisible God.

By [having] faith, he established the Passover Festival [Note: This festival was first celebrated in Egypt by the fleeing Israelites, then observed annually in commemoration of that event], and had [lambs'] blood sprinkled [on the door jambs] to prevent the one who destroyed the firstborn children from touching them. [See Ex. 12:23].

And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city [Note: See the following passages on this "great city," 14:8; 16:19; 17:5,18; 18:2,10,16,18,19,21] where the Lord was crucified, which is spiritually called Sodom, or Egypt.