Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

²You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land.

³But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.

⁵The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the LORD commanded them.

⁷Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

⁹“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.’”

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.

¹¹But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers — the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices.

¹²Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

¹³However, Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard: He refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake.

¹⁶Tell him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened.

¹⁷This is what the LORD says: Here is how you will know that I am the LORD. Watch. I am about to strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.

¹⁸The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it.”

¹⁹So the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt — over their rivers, canals, ponds, and all their water reservoirs — and they will become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.”

²⁰Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood.

²¹The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

²³Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn’t take even this to heart.

²⁴All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river.

²⁵Seven days passed after the LORD struck the Nile.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him: This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

²But if you refuse to let them go, then I will plague all your territory with frogs.

³The Nile will swarm with frogs; they will come up and go into your palace, into your bedroom and on your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls.

⁴The frogs will come up on you, your people, and all your officials.”

⁵The LORD then said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, canals, and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.”

⁶When Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

⁷But the magicians did the same thing by their occult practices and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

⁸Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Appeal to the LORD to remove the frogs from me and my people. Then I will let the people go and they can sacrifice to the LORD.”

⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor of choosing. When should I appeal on behalf of you, your officials, and your people, that the frogs be taken away from you and your houses, and remain only in the Nile?”

¹⁰“Tomorrow,” he answered. Moses replied, “As you have said, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God,

¹¹the frogs will go away from you, your houses, your officials, and your people. The frogs will remain only in the Nile.”

¹²After Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD for help concerning the frogs that he had brought against Pharaoh.

¹³The LORD did as Moses had said: the frogs in the houses, courtyards, and fields died.

¹⁴They piled them in countless heaps, and there was a terrible odor in the land.

¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

¹⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it will become gnats throughout the land of Egypt.”

¹⁷And they did this. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and when he struck the dust of the land, gnats were on people and animals. All the dust of the land became gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

¹⁸The magicians tried to produce gnats using their occult practices, but they could not. The gnats remained on people and animals.

¹⁹“This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

²⁰The LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

²¹But if you will not let my people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians’ houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live.

²²But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where my people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land.

²³I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.”

²⁴And the LORD did this. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ houses. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

²⁵Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go sacrifice to your God within the country.”

²⁶But Moses said, “It would not be right to do that, because what we will sacrifice to the LORD our God is detestable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what the Egyptians detest in front of them, won’t they stone us?

²⁷We must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as he instructs us.”

²⁸Pharaoh responded, “I will let you go and sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness, but don’t go very far. Make an appeal for me.”

²⁹“As soon as I leave you,” Moses said, “I will appeal to the LORD, and tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceptively again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to the LORD.”

³⁰Then Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the LORD.

³¹The LORD did as Moses had said: He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people; not one was left.

³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not let the people go.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

²But if you refuse to let them go and keep holding them,

³then the LORD’s hand will bring a severe plague against your livestock in the field — the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.

⁴But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that the Israelites own will die.”

⁵And the LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land.”

⁶The LORD did this the next day. All the Egyptian livestock died, but none among the Israelite livestock died.

⁷Pharaoh sent messengers who saw that not a single one of the Israelite livestock was dead. But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not let the people go.

⁸Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of furnace soot, and Moses is to throw it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

⁹It will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt. It will become festering boils on people and animals throughout the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰So they took furnace soot and stood before Pharaoh. Moses threw it toward heaven, and it became festering boils on people and animals.

¹¹The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians.

¹²But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had told Moses.

¹³Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

¹⁴For this time I am about to send all my plagues against you, your officials, and your people. Then you will know there is no one like me on the whole earth.

¹⁵By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth.

¹⁶However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you my power and to make my name known on the whole earth.

¹⁷You are still acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go.

¹⁸Tomorrow at this time I will rain down the worst hail that has ever occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

¹⁹Therefore give orders to bring your livestock and all that you have in the field into shelters. Every person and animal that is in the field and not brought inside will die when the hail falls on them.”

²⁰Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the LORD made their servants and livestock flee to shelters,

²¹but those who didn’t take to heart the LORD’s word left their servants and livestock in the field.

²²Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt — on people and animals and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.”

²³So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail. Lightning struck the land, and the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.

²⁴The hail, with lightning flashing through it, was so severe that nothing like it had occurred in the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

²⁵Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both people and animals. The hail beat down every plant of the field and shattered every tree in the field.

²⁶The only place it didn’t hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

²⁷Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned this time,” he said to them. “The LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the guilty ones.

²⁸Make an appeal to the LORD. There has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t need to stay any longer.”

²⁹Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earth belongs to the LORD.

³⁰But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the LORD God.”

³¹The flax and the barley were destroyed because the barley was ripe and the flax was budding,

³²but the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed since they are later crops.

³³Moses left Pharaoh and the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. Then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured down on the land.

³⁴When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his officials.

³⁵So Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not let the Israelites go, as the LORD had said through Moses.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may do these miraculous signs of mine among them,

²and so that you may tell your son and grandson how severely I dealt with the Egyptians and performed miraculous signs among them, and you will know that I am the LORD.”

³So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may worship me.

⁴But if you refuse to let my people go, then tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.

⁵They will cover the surface of the land so that no one will be able to see the land. They will eat the remainder left to you that escaped the hail; they will eat every tree you have growing in the fields.

⁶They will fill your houses, all your officials’ houses, and the houses of all the Egyptians — something your fathers and grandfathers never saw since the time they occupied the land until today.” Then he turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.

⁷Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?”

⁸So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the LORD your God,” Pharaoh said. “But exactly who will be going?”

⁹Moses replied, “We will go with our young and with our old; we will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds because we must hold the LORD’s festival.”

¹⁰He said to them, “The Lord would have to be with you if I would ever let you and your families go! Look out — you’re heading for trouble.

¹¹No, go — just able-bodied men — worship the LORD, since that’s what you want.” And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹²The LORD then said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, and the locusts will come up over it and eat every plant in the land, everything that the hail left.”

¹³So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD sent an east wind over the land all that day and through the night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.

¹⁴The locusts went up over the entire land of Egypt and settled on the whole territory of Egypt. Never before had there been such a large number of locusts, and there never will be again.

¹⁵They covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or the plants in the field throughout the land of Egypt.

¹⁶Pharaoh urgently sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.

¹⁷Please forgive my sin once more and make an appeal to the LORD your God, so that he will just take this death away from me.”

¹⁸Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the LORD.

¹⁹Then the LORD changed the wind to a strong west wind, and it carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the territory of Egypt.

²⁰But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the Israelites go.

²¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”

²²So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.

²³One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.

²⁴Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your families may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”

²⁵Moses responded, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to prepare for the LORD our God.

²⁶Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind because we will take some of them to worship the LORD our God. We will not know what we will use to worship the LORD until we get there.”

²⁷But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.

²⁸Pharaoh said to him, “Leave me! Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die.”

²⁹“As you have said,” Moses replied, “I will never see your face again.”

¹The LORD said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you out of here.

²Now announce to the people that both men and women should ask their neighbors for silver and gold items.”

³The LORD gave the people favor with the Egyptians. In addition, Moses himself was very highly regarded in the land of Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and the people.

⁴So Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: About midnight I will go throughout Egypt,

⁵and every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is at the grindstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock.

⁶Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before or ever will be again.

⁷But against all the Israelites, whether people or animals, not even a dog will snarl, so that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

⁸All these officials of yours will come down to me and bow before me, saying: Get out, you and all the people who follow you. After that, I will get out.” And he went out from Pharaoh’s presence fiercely angry.

⁹The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his land.

¹The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:

²“This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year.

³Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ families, one animal per family.

⁴If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each will eat.

⁵You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats.

⁶You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.

⁷They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them.

⁸They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over fire — its head as well as its legs and inner organs.

¹⁰You must not leave any of it until morning; any part of it left until morning you must burn.

¹¹Here is how you must eat it: You must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the LORD’s Passover.

¹²“I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I am the LORD; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt.

¹³The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the LORD. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

¹⁵You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶You are to hold a sacred assembly on the first day and another sacred assembly on the seventh day. No work may be done on those days except for preparing what people need to eat — you may do only that.

¹⁷“You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your military divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

¹⁸You are to eat unleavened bread in the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day.

¹⁹Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a resident alien or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel.

²⁰Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”

²¹Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select an animal from the flock according to your families, and slaughter the Passover animal.

²²Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning.

²³When the LORD passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, he will pass over the door and not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you.

²⁴“Keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your descendants.

²⁵When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, you are to observe this ceremony.

²⁶When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’

²⁷you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” So the people knelt low and worshiped.

²⁸Then the Israelites went and did this; they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹Now at midnight the LORD struck every firstborn male 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 every firstborn of the livestock.

³⁰During the night Pharaoh got up, he along with all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud wailing throughout Egypt because there wasn’t a house without someone dead.

³¹He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get out immediately from among my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship the LORD as you have said.

³²Take even your flocks and your herds as you asked and leave, and also bless me.”

³³Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We’re all going to die!”

³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders.

³⁵The Israelites acted on Moses’s word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold items and for clothing.

³⁶And the LORD gave the people such favor with the Egyptians that they gave them what they requested. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand able-bodied men on foot, besides their families.

³⁸A mixed crowd also went up with them, along with a huge number of livestock, both flocks and herds.

³⁹The people baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, since it had no yeast; for when they were driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰The time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years.

⁴¹At the end of 430 years, on that same day, all the LORD’s military divisions went out from the land of Egypt.

⁴²It was a night of vigil in honor of the LORD, because he would bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is in honor of the LORD, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations.

⁴³The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner may eat it.

⁴⁴But any slave a man has purchased may eat it, after you have circumcised him.

⁴⁵A temporary resident or hired worker may not eat the Passover.

⁴⁶It is to be eaten in one house. You may not take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of its bones.

⁴⁷The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

⁴⁸If an alien resides among you and wants to observe the LORD’s Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate; he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it.

⁴⁹The same law will apply to both the native and the alien who resides among you.”

⁵⁰Then all the Israelites did this; they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

⁵¹On that same day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their military divisions.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Consecrate every firstborn male to me, the firstborn from every womb among the Israelites, both man and domestic animal; it is mine.”

³Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, for the LORD brought you out of here by the strength of his hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten.

⁴Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.

⁵When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ceremony in this month.

⁶For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the LORD.

⁷Unleavened bread is to be eaten for those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, and no yeast may be found among you in all your territory.

⁸On that day explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

⁹Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the LORD’s instruction may be in your mouth; for the LORD brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand.

¹⁰Keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you,

¹²you are to present to the LORD every firstborn male of the womb. All firstborn offspring of the livestock you own that are males will be the LORD’s.

¹³You must redeem every firstborn of a donkey with a flock animal, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. However, you must redeem every firstborn among your sons.

¹⁴“In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘By the strength of his hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

¹⁵When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of livestock. That is why I sacrifice to the LORD all the firstborn of the womb that are males, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons.’

¹⁶So let it be a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for the LORD brought us out of Egypt by the strength of his hand.”

¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, “The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.”

¹⁸So he led the people around toward the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt in battle formation.

¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelites swear a solemn oath, saying, “God will certainly come to your aid; then you must take my bones with you from this place.”

²⁰They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness.

²¹The LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night.

²²The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.

³Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.

⁴I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this.

⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said: “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

⁶So he got his chariot ready and took his troops with him;

⁷he took six hundred of the best chariots and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one.

⁸The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out defiantly.

⁹The Egyptians — all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army — chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the LORD for help.

¹¹They said to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

¹²Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

¹³But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the LORD’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

¹⁴The LORD will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

¹⁵The LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp.

¹⁶As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

¹⁷As for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen.

¹⁸The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁹Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them.

²⁰It came between the Egyptian and Israelite forces. There was cloud and darkness, it lit up the night, and neither group came near the other all night long.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided,

²²and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

²³The Egyptians set out in pursuit — all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen — and went into the sea after them.

²⁴During the morning watch, the LORD looked down at the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion.

²⁵He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”

²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.”

²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the LORD threw them into the sea.

²⁸The water came back and covered the chariots and horsemen, plus the entire army of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea. Not even one of them survived.

²⁹But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

³⁰That day the LORD saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

³¹When Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD. They said: I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.

²The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

³The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.

⁴He threw Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea; the elite of his officers were drowned in the Red Sea.

⁵The floods covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

⁶LORD, your right hand is glorious in power. LORD, your right hand shattered the enemy.

⁷You overthrew your adversaries by your great majesty. You unleashed your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

⁸The water heaped up at the blast from your nostrils; the currents stood firm like a dam. The watery depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹The enemy said: “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My desire will be gratified at their expense. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.”

¹⁰But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹LORD, who is like you among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

¹²You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed them.

¹³With your faithful love, you will lead the people you have redeemed; you will guide them to your holy dwelling with your strength.

¹⁴When the peoples hear, they will shudder; anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia.

¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan will panic;

¹⁶terror and dread will fall on them. They will be as still as a stone because of your powerful arm until your people pass by, LORD, until the people whom you purchased pass by.

¹⁷You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your possession; LORD, you have prepared the place for your dwelling; Lord, your hands have established the sanctuary.

¹⁸The LORD will reign forever and ever!

¹⁹When Pharaoh’s horses with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the water of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

²⁰Then the prophetess Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out following her with tambourines and dancing.

²¹Miriam sang to them: Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.

²²Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water.

²³They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter — that is why it was named Marah.

²⁴The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?”

²⁵So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The LORD made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there.

²⁶He said, “If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

²⁷Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water.

¹The entire Israelite community departed from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt.

²The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

³The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!”

⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

⁵On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites: “This evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

⁷and in the morning you will see the LORD’s glory because he has heard your complaints about him. For who are we that you complain about us?”

⁸Moses continued, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and all the bread you want in the morning, for he has heard the complaints that you are raising against him. Who are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD.”

⁹Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the LORD, for he has heard your complaints.’”

¹⁰As Aaron was speaking to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and there in a cloud the LORD’s glory appeared.

¹¹The LORD spoke to Moses,

¹²“I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.”

¹³So at evening quail came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp.

¹⁴When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground.

¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was. Moses told them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.

¹⁶This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take two quarts per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’”

¹⁷So the Israelites did this. Some gathered a lot, some a little.

¹⁸When they measured it by quarts, the person who gathered a lot had no surplus, and the person who gathered a little had no shortage. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat.

¹⁹Moses said to them, “No one is to let any of it remain until morning.”

²⁰But they didn’t listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. Therefore Moses was angry with them.

²¹They gathered it every morning. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

²²On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.

²³He told them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and set aside everything left over to be kept until morning.’”

²⁴So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it didn’t stink or have maggots in it.

²⁵“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you won’t find any in the field.

²⁶For six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

²⁷Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find any.

²⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and instructions?

²⁹Understand that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days’ worth of bread. Each of you stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.”

³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹The house of Israel named the substance manna. It resembled coriander seed, was white, and tasted like wafers made with honey.

³²Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Two quarts of it are to be preserved throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

³³Moses told Aaron, “Take a container and put two quarts of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be preserved throughout your generations.”

³⁴As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the testimony to be preserved.

³⁵The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan.

³⁶(They used a measure called an omer, which held two quarts. )

¹The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the LORD’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

²So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the LORD?”

³But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”

⁵The LORD answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go.

⁶I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

⁷He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

⁸At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel.

⁹Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.”

¹⁰Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

¹²When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.

¹³So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.

¹⁴The LORD then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.”

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and named it, “The LORD Is My Banner.”

¹⁶He said, “Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward the LORD’s throne. The LORD will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

¹Moses’s father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for God’s people Israel when the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt.

²Now Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses’s wife, after he had sent her back,

³along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, “I have been a resident alien in a foreign land”)

⁴and the other Eliezer (because he had said, “The God of my father was my helper and rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword”).

⁵Moses’s father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses’s wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God.

⁶He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been and went into the tent.

⁸Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the LORD rescued them.

⁹Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the LORD had done for Israel when he rescued them from the power of the Egyptians.

¹⁰“Blessed be the LORD,” Jethro exclaimed, “who rescued you from the power of Egypt and from the power of Pharaoh. He has rescued the people from under the power of Egypt!

¹¹Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because he did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”

¹²Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’s father-in-law in God’s presence.

¹³The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening.

¹⁴When Moses’s father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this thing you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

¹⁵Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

¹⁶Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”

¹⁷“What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’s father-in-law said to him.

¹⁸“You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone.

¹⁹Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to him.

²⁰Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do.

²¹But you should select from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating dishonest profit. Place them over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

²²They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every major case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load, and they will bear it with you.

²³If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”

²⁴Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

²⁵So Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them leaders over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

²⁶They judged the people at all times; they would bring the hard cases to Moses, but they would judge every minor case themselves.

²⁷Moses let his father-in-law go, and he journeyed to his own land.

¹In the third month from the very day the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they came to the Sinai Wilderness.

²They traveled from Rephidim, came to the Sinai Wilderness, and camped in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

³Moses went up the mountain to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob and explain to the Israelites:

⁴‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

⁵Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine,

⁶and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

⁷After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.

⁸Then all the people responded together, “We will do all that the LORD has spoken.” So Moses brought the people’s words back to the LORD.

⁹The LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.” Moses reported the people’s words to the LORD,

¹⁰and the LORD told Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes

¹¹and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

¹²Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say: Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death.

¹³No hand may touch him; instead he will be stoned or shot with arrows and not live, whether animal or human. When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may go up the mountain.”

¹⁴Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.

¹⁵He said to the people, “Be prepared by the third day. Do not have sexual relations with women.”

¹⁶On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered.

¹⁷Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the LORD came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

¹⁹As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

²⁰The LORD came down on Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain. Then the LORD summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and he went up.

²¹The LORD directed Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the LORD; otherwise many of them will die.

²²Even the priests who come near the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out in anger against them.”

²³Moses responded to the LORD, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, since you warned us: Put a boundary around the mountain and consecrate it.”

²⁴And the LORD replied to him, “Go down and come back with Aaron. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD, or he will break out in anger against them.”

²⁵So Moses went down to the people and told them.

¹Then God spoke all these words:

²I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

³Do not have other gods besides me.

⁴Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

⁵Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ iniquity, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

⁶but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.

⁷Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

⁸Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy:

⁹You are to labor six days and do all your work,

¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You must not do any work — you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.

¹¹For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

¹²Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³Do not murder.

¹⁴Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵Do not steal.

¹⁶Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

¹⁸All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance.

¹⁹“You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

²⁰Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin.”

²¹And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was.

²²Then the LORD told Moses, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

²³Do not make gods of silver to rival me; do not make gods of gold for yourselves.

²⁴“Make an earthen altar for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your flocks and herds. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I cause my name to be remembered.

²⁵If you make a stone altar for me, do not build it out of cut stones. If you use your chisel on it, you will defile it.

²⁶Do not go up to my altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it.