When the child grew older she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "Because I drew him from the water."

In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and observed their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking a Hebrew man, one of his own people.

The man replied, "Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid, thinking, "Surely what I did has become known."

When Pharaoh heard about this event, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he settled by a certain well.

When some shepherds came and drove them away, Moses came up and defended them and then watered their flock.

Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

When she bore a son, Moses named him Gershom, for he said, "I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land."

Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.

So Moses thought, "I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?"

When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."

He added, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

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?"

God said to Moses, "I am that I am." And he said, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'I am has sent me to you.'"

God also said to Moses, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'The Lord -- the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob -- has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.'

Moses answered again, "And if they do not believe me or pay attention to me, but say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you'?"

The Lord said, "Throw it to the ground." So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses ran from it.

But the Lord said to Moses, "Put out your hand and grab it by the tail" -- so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand --

Then Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

But Moses said, "O my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!"

Then the Lord became angry with Moses, and he said, "What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak very well. Moreover, he is coming to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.

So Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Let me go, so that I may return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

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

Then Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey and headed back to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

The Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him.

But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses' feet, and said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

The Lord said to Aaron, "Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and greeted him with a kiss.

Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him.

Then Moses and Aaron went and brought together all the Israelite elders.

Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people,

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Release my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feast to me in the desert.'"

The king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to refrain from their work? Return to your labor!"

When they went out from Pharaoh, they encountered Moses and Aaron standing there to meet them,

Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why did you ever send me?

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for compelled by my strong hand he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land."

God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the Lord.

Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and hard labor.

Then the Lord said to Moses,

But Moses replied to the Lord, "If the Israelites did not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with difficulty?"

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge for the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram's life was 137 years.)

It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, "Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments."

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 Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

But Moses said before the Lord, "Since I speak with difficulty, why should Pharaoh listen to me?"

So the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

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

Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

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.

The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hard; he refuses to release the people.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt's waters -- over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their reservoirs -- so that it becomes blood.' There will be blood everywhere in the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers."

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.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord: "Release my people in order that they may serve me!

The Lord spoke to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Extend your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.'"

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the Lord that he may take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will release the people that they may sacrifice to the Lord."

Moses said to Pharaoh, "You may have the honor over me -- when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed from you and your houses, so that they will be left only in the Nile?"

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.

Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord because of the frogs that he had brought on Pharaoh.

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

The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Extend your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.'"

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!

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land."

But Moses said, "That would not be the right thing to do, for the sacrifices we make to the Lord our God would be an abomination to the Egyptians. If we make sacrifices that are an abomination to the Egyptians right before their eyes, will they not stone us?

Moses said, "I am going to go out from you and pray to the Lord, and the swarms of flies will go away from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only do not let Pharaoh deal falsely again by not releasing the people to sacrifice to the Lord."

So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

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!

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people that they may serve me!

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from a furnace, and have Moses throw it into the air while Pharaoh is watching.

So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, Moses threw it into the air, and it caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals.

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

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

The Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: "Release my people so that they may serve me!

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Extend your hand toward the sky that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, and on everything that grows in the field in the land of Egypt."

When Moses extended his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire fell to the earth; so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time! The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty.

Moses said to him, "When I leave the city I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord.

So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain stopped pouring on the earth.

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

The Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display these signs of mine before him,

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: 'How long do you refuse to humble yourself before me? Release my people so that they may serve me!

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.

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?"

Moses said, "We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold a pilgrim feast for the Lord."

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 Lord said to Moses, "Extend your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat everything that grows in the ground, everything that the hail has left."

So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all night. The morning came, and the east wind had brought up the locusts!

Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you!

Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

The Lord said to Moses, "Extend your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick it can be felt."

So Moses extended his hand toward heaven, and there was absolute darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, "Go, serve the Lord -- only your flocks and herds will be detained. Even your families may go with you."

But Moses said, "Will you also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may present them to the Lord our God?

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

The Lord said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will release you from this place. When he releases you, he will drive you out completely from this place.

(Now the Lord granted the people favor with the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, respected by Pharaoh's servants and by the Egyptian people.)

Moses said, "Thus says the Lord: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt,

All these your servants will come down to me and bow down to me, saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you,' and after that I will go out." Then Moses went out from Pharaoh in great anger.