All the people who were directly descended from Jacob numbered seventy. But Joseph was already in Egypt,

The Israelites, however, were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them.

They made their lives bitter by hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous.

Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, took it,

When he went out the next day, there were two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong, "Why are you attacking your fellow Hebrew?"

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.

The Lord said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead."

That same day Pharaoh commanded the slave masters and foremen who were over the people:

But you must require of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. That is why they are crying, 'Let us go sacrifice to our God.'

The slave masters were pressuring them, saying, "Complete your work for each day, just like when there was straw!"

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?"

The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, "You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks."

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

These are the heads of their fathers' households: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben.

The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

The sons of Gershon, by their families, were Libni and Shimei.

The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. (The length of Kohath's life was 133 years.)

The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of Levi, according to their records.

The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zikri.

The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the Korahite clans.

They were the men who were speaking to Pharaoh king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron.

When the fish that were in the Nile died, the Nile began to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood everywhere in the land of Egypt!

When the magicians attempted to bring forth gnats by their secret arts, they could not. So there were gnats on people and on animals.

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

(Now the flax and the barley were struck by the hail, for the barley had ripened and the flax was in bud.

But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are later crops.)

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, serve the Lord your God. Exactly who is going with you?"

No! Go, you men only, and serve the Lord, for that is what you want." Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh's presence.

The Egyptians were urging the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, for they were saying, "We are all dead!"

The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men on foot, plus their dependants.

They baked cakes of bread without yeast using the dough they had brought from Egypt, for it was made without yeast -- because they were thrust out of Egypt and were not able to delay, they could not prepare food for themselves either.

Moses said to the people, "Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt, from the place where you were enslaved, for the Lord brought you out of there with a mighty hand -- and no bread made with yeast may be eaten.

But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he chased after the Israelites. Now the Israelites were going out defiantly.

When Pharaoh got closer, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified. The Israelites cried out to the Lord,

So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state when the sun began to rise. Now the Egyptians were fleeing before it, but the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.

The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he has thrown into the sea, and his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea.

By the blast of your nostrils the waters were piled up, the flowing water stood upright like a heap, and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea.

Then they came to Marah, but they were not able to drink the waters of Marah, because they were bitter. (That is why its name was Marah.)

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.

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.

But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, "Why in the world did you bring us up out of Egypt -- to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"

When the hands of Moses became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and so his hands were steady until the sun went down.

On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled.

All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking -- and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance.

"You must not wrong a foreigner nor oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

"You must not oppress a foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Now be sure to make them according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.

You are to set up the tabernacle according to the plan that you were shown on the mountain.

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.

So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.

Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides -- they were written on the front and on the back.

Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies.

The Lord said to Moses, "Cut out two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed.

When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to approach him.

and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled spun goats' hair.

So all the skilled people who were doing all the work on the sanctuary came from the work they were doing

Moses instructed them to take his message throughout the camp, saying, "Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the sanctuary." So the people were restrained from bringing any more.

Now the materials were more than enough for them to do all the work.

All the skilled among those who were doing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet; they were made with cherubim that were the work of an artistic designer.

At the two corners they were doubled at the lower end and finished together at the top in one ring. So he did for both.

So there were eight frames and their silver bases, sixteen bases, two bases under each frame.

and its five posts and their hooks. He overlaid their tops and their bands with gold, but their five bases were bronze.

The cherubim were spreading their wings upward, overshadowing the atonement lid with their wings. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the atonement lid.

He cast four gold rings for it and attached the rings at the four corners where its four legs were.

The rings were close to the frame to provide places for the poles to carry the table.

He made the vessels which were on the table out of pure gold, its plates, its ladles, its pitchers, and its bowls, to be used in pouring out offerings.

He made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered metal; its base and its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its blossoms were from the same piece.

Six branches were extending from its sides, three branches of the lampstand from one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it.

Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on the first branch, and three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on the next branch, and the same for the six branches that were extending from the lampstand.

On the lampstand there were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms,

Their buds and their branches were of one piece; all of it was one hammered piece of pure gold.

He made the incense altar of acacia wood. Its length was a foot and a half and its width a foot and a half -- a square -- and its height was three feet. Its horns were of one piece with it.

He made its horns on its four corners; its horns were part of it, and he overlaid it with bronze.

He made the courtyard. For the south side the hangings of the courtyard were of fine twisted linen, one hundred fifty feet long,

For the north side the hangings were one hundred fifty feet, with their twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver.

For the west side there were hangings seventy-five feet long, with their ten posts and their ten bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver.

with hangings on one side of the gate that were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases,

and for the second side of the gate of the courtyard, just like the other, the hangings were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases.

All the hangings around the courtyard were of fine twisted linen.

The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks of the posts and their bands were silver, their tops were overlaid with silver, and all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.

with four posts and their four bronze bases. Their hooks and their bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver.

All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the courtyard all around were bronze.

The silver of those who were numbered of the community was one hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel,

The one hundred talents of silver were used for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the special curtain -- one hundred bases for one hundred talents, one talent per base.

From the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn they made woven garments for serving in the sanctuary; they made holy garments that were for Aaron, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in gold filigree settings.

The stones were for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, corresponding to the number of their names. Each name corresponding to one of the twelve tribes was like the engravings of a seal.