Journey Through God's Word

¹Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro (Reuel) his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb (Sinai), the mountain of God.

²The Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing flame of fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was on fire, yet it was not consumed.

³So Moses said, "I must turn away [from the flock] and see this great sight—why the bush is not burned up."

⁴When the LORD saw that he turned away [from the flock] to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."

⁵Then God said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet [out of respect], because the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

⁶Then He said, "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.

⁷The LORD said, "I have in fact seen the affliction (suffering, desolation) of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters (oppressors); for I know their pain and suffering.

⁸So I have come down to rescue them from the hand (power) of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a land [that is] good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]—to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

⁹Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me; and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

¹⁰Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and then bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

¹¹But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

¹²And God said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve and worship God at this mountain."

¹³Then Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers (ancestors) has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"

¹⁴God said to Moses, "I Am Who I Am"; and He said, "You shall say this to the Israelites, 'I Am has sent me to you.'"

¹⁵Then God also said to Moses, "This is what you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Israel), has sent me to you.' This is My Name forever, and this is My memorial [name] to all generations.

¹⁶Go, gather the elders (tribal leaders) of Israel together, and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, "I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

¹⁷So I said I will bring you up out of the suffering and oppression of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'

¹⁸The elders [of the tribes] will listen and pay attention to what you say; and you, with the elders of Israel, shall go to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; so now, please, [we ask and plead with you,] let us go on a three days' journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'

¹⁹But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless [he is forced] by a strong hand.

²⁰So I will reach out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go.

²¹And I will grant this people favor and respect in the sight of the Egyptians; therefore, it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.

²²But every woman shall [insistently] ask her neighbor and any woman who lives in her house, for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and daughters. In this way you are to plunder the Egyptians [leaving bondage with great possessions that are rightfully yours]."

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

²"This month shall be the beginning of months to you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

³Tell all the congregation of Israel, 'On the tenth [day] of this month they are to take a lamb or young goat for themselves, according to [the size of] the household of which he is the father, a lamb or young goat for each household.

⁴Now if the household is too small for a lamb [to be consumed], let him and his next door neighbor take one according to the number of people [in the households]; according to what each man can eat, you are to divide the lamb.

⁵Your lamb or young goat shall be [perfect] without blemish or bodily defect, a male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

⁶You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight.

⁷Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel [above the door] of the houses in which they eat it.

⁸They shall eat the meat that same night, roasted in fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted in fire—both its head and its legs, along with its inner parts.

¹⁰You shall let none of the meat remain until the morning, and anything that remains left over until morning, you shall burn completely in the fire.

¹¹Now you are to eat it in this manner: [be prepared for a journey] with your loins girded [that is, with the outer garment tucked into the band], your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; you shall eat it quickly—it is the Lord's Passover.

¹²For I [the LORD] will pass through the land of Egypt on this night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal; against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments [exhibiting their worthlessness]. I am the LORD.

¹³The blood shall be a sign for you on [the doorposts of] the houses where you live; when I see the blood I shall pass over you, and no affliction shall happen to you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴'Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as an ordinance forever.

¹⁵[In the celebration of the Passover in future years,] seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your houses [because it represents the spread of sin]; for whoever eats leavened bread on the first day through the seventh day, that person shall be cut off and excluded from [the atonement made for] Israel.

¹⁶On the first day [of the feast] you shall have a holy and solemn assembly, and on the seventh day there shall be another holy and solemn assembly; no work of any kind shall be done on those days, except for the preparation of food which every person must eat—only that may be done by you.

¹⁷You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your hosts [grouped according to tribal armies] out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an ordinance forever.

¹⁸In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, [and continue] until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

¹⁹Seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off and excluded from [the atonement made for] the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.

²⁰You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.'"

²¹Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and take a lamb for yourselves according to [the size of] your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.

²²You shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch some of the blood to the lintel [above the doorway] and to the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.

²³For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel [above the entry way] and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to slay you.

²⁴You shall observe this event [concerning Passover] as an ordinance for you and for your children forever.

²⁵When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep and observe this service.

²⁶When your children say to you, 'What does this service mean to you?'

²⁷you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed [their heads] low and worshiped [God].

²⁸Then the Israelites went and did [as they had been told]: just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

¹Then God spoke all these words:

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

³"You shall have no other gods before Me.

⁴"You shall not make for yourself any idol, or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth [as an object to worship].

⁵You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [ demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

⁶but showing graciousness and steadfast lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the LORD will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].

⁸"Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God).

⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the LORD your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates.

¹¹For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].

¹²"Honor (respect, obey, care for) your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged in the land the LORD your God gives you.

¹³"You shall not commit murder (unjustified, deliberate homicide).

¹⁴"You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵"You shall not steal [secretly, openly, fraudulently, or through carelessness].

¹⁶"You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).

¹⁷"You shall not covet [that is, selfishly desire and attempt to acquire] your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

¹⁸Now all the people witnessed the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the smoking mountain; and as they looked, the people were afraid, and they trembled [and moved backward] and stood at a [safe] distance.

¹⁹Then they said to Moses, "You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us or we will die."

²⁰Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him [that is, a profound reverence for Him] will remain with you, so that you do not sin."

²¹So the people stood at a [safe] distance, but Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.