All those who descended from Jacob totaled 75 persons. Now Joseph was already in Egypt.

But the Israelis were fruitful and increased abundantly. They multiplied in numbers and became very, very strong. As a result, the land was filled with them.

Eventually a new king who was unacquainted with Joseph came to power in Egypt.

Later, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah.

God was pleased with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong.

Later, the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a beautiful child, and hid him for three months.

But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus container, coated it with asphalt and pitch, placed the child in it, and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

Going out the next day, Moses noticed two Hebrew men fighting right in front of him. He told the one who was at fault, "Why did you strike your companion?"

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.

Then he said, "I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Again the LORD told him, "Put your hand into your bosom." He put his hand into his bosom and as soon as he brought it out it was leprous, like snow.

Then God said, "Put your hand back into your bosom." He returned it to his bosom and as soon as he brought it out, it was restored like the rest of his skin.

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 the LORD was angry with Moses and said, "There's your brother Aaron, a descendant of Levi, isn't there? I know that he certainly is eloquent. Right now he's coming to meet you and he will be pleased to see you.

But later on, at the lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.

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.

Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh.

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

Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he's going down to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile River and meet him. Be sure to take with you the staff that was turned into a snake.

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.

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.

The LORD did this, and dense swarms of insects came into the house of Pharaoh and into the houses of his servants. The land was ruined throughout Egypt because of the swarms of insects.

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.

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.

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.

Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelis were, was there no hail.

(Now the flax and the barley were ruined because the barley was in ear and the flax was in bud.

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

They covered the surface of the entire land so that it was dark. They ate all the vegetation of the land and the fruit from the trees that the hail left. Nothing green was left on the trees or on the vegetation in all the land of Egypt.

So Moses stretched his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.

No one could see anyone else, nor could anyone get up from his place for three days. But there was light for all the Israelis in their dwellings.

The LORD made the Egyptians look on the people with favor. Also the man Moses was highly regarded in the land of Egypt, both in the opinion of Pharaoh's officials and in the opinion of the people.

And so at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.

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.

So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders.

Now the time that the Israelis lived in Egypt was 430 years.

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.

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."

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials changed toward the people, and they said, "What have we done in releasing Israel from serving us?"

They also told Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us out to die in the desert? What have you done to us, by bringing us out of Egypt?

Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the camp of Israel, moved behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front of them and stood behind them,

Your right hand, LORD, was majestic in strength, your right hand, LORD, shattered the enemy.

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

While Aaron was speaking to all the congregation of the Israelis, they turned toward the desert, and there the glory of the LORD was seen in the cloud.

Later that evening quail came up and covered the camp, and then in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

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.

The Israelis named it "manna". It was white like coriander seed, and tasted like a wafer made with honey.

The whole congregation of the Israelis set out from the desert of Sin, traveling from place to place according to the command of the LORD. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom, because he uwould say, "I was an alien in a foreign land,"

while the name of the other was Eliezer, because he would say, "My father's God helped me and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword."

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

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 do you alone sit as judge, with all the people standing around you from morning until evening?"

The LORD told Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes,

When morning came on the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and the very loud sound of a ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.

Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the LORD had come down in fire on it. Smoke went up from it like smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

Then the people stood at a distance, and Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

If he came in by himself, he is to go out by himself. If he was married, his wife is to go out with him.

If a fine is imposed on him, he may pay all that was imposed on him as a ransom for his life.

But if it was known that the ox had gored previously, and its owner didn't restrain it, he shall certainly repay ox for ox, and the dead ox will become his."

If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession, whether an ox, a donkey or a sheep, he is to repay double.

But if it was actually stolen from him, the neighbor is to make restitution to its owner.

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."

and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky.

To the Israelis the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

When Moses went up on the mountain, he went into the center of the cloud and was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.

You are to erect the tent according to the plan for it that was shown you on the mountain.

You are to make it hollow out of boards just as it was shown you on the mountain, that's how they are to make it."

You are to bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water.

You are to cut the ram into pieces, wash its entrails and legs, put them on the altar along with the pieces and its head,

You are to consecrate the portion of the ram of ordination that belongs to Aaron and his sons: the breast of the wave offering that was waved and the thigh of the presented offering that was presented.

They shall eat these things by which atonement was made at their ordination to consecrate them, but an unqualified person is not to eat because these things are holy.

and Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and their feet from it.

When they enter the Tent of Meeting or when they approach the altar to minister to make an offering by fire to the LORD, they are to wash with water so they don't die.

They are to wash their hands and their feet so that they don't die, and it is to be for them a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his seed from generation to generation."

It is a sign forever between me and the Israelis, because the LORD made the heavens and the earth in six days, but on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'"

The tablets were the work of God and the writing was God's writing, inscribed on the tablets.

Moses used to take the tent and set it up outside the camp at a distance from the camp, and he called it the Tent of Meeting. When anyone sought the LORD, he would go out to the Tent of Meeting which was outside the camp.

While Moses was there with the LORD for 40 days and 40 nights, he did not eat or drink. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he had the two tablets in his hand, and he did not know that the skin of his face was ablaze with light because he had been speaking with God.

Aaron and all the Israelis saw Moses and immediately noticed that the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.

Each Israeli man and woman whose heart was prompted brought something as a freewill offering to the LORD for all the work that the LORD had commanded them to do through Moses.

Then Moses issued an order, and the message was taken throughout the camp, "Men and women, don't bring any more offerings for the sanctuary." The people were restrained from bringing any more,

since the material was more than sufficient for doing all the work.

The length of each curtain was 28 cubits, and the width of each curtain two cubits. All the curtains had the same measurements.

Then he made 50 gold clasps, and joined the curtains to each other with the clasps so the tent was one piece.

The length of each curtain was 30 cubits, and the width of each curtain was two cubits; the measurements of each of the eleven curtains was the same.

Each board was ten cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide.

One cherub was at one end and one cherub at the other end. He made the cherubim at the two ends of the Mercy Seat and of one piece with it.

A calyx was under the two branches that extended out of the stem; a calyx was under the next pair of branches that extended out of the stem; and a calyx was under the last pair of branches that extended out of the stem, and so on for the six branches extending from the lamp stand.

Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it, all of it was of one piece of hammered work of pure gold.

Then he made the altar for burnt offerings of acacia wood. It was a square, five cubits long and five cubits wide, and it was three cubits high.

He made a lattice, a netting of bronze, for the altar. It was under its ledge, extending halfway up.

The north side was 100 cubits long, and its 20 pillars and 20 sockets were made of bronze, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands were made of silver.

The east side was 50 cubits long.

The screen of the gate of the court was the work of an embroiderer of blue, purple, and scarlet material, and fine woven linen. The length was 20 cubits and it was five cubits high along its width, corresponding to the hangings of the court.