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Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month
of the seventh year of the king.
He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day
of the first month and he arrived in Jerusalem
on the first day of the fifth month,
for the gracious hand of his God was on him.
For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance
of the Law of the Lord and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.
This is a copy of the letter King Artaxerxes
had given to Ezra the priest, a teacher of the Law,
a man learned in matters concerning the commands
and decrees of the Lord for Israel.
You are sent by the king and his seven advisers
to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem
with regard to the Law of your God, which is in your hand.
From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been great.
Because of our sins,
we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword
and captivity, to pillage and humiliation
at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.
Lord, the God of Israel, you are righteous!
We are left this day as a remnant.
Here we are before you in our guilt,
though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence.
All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate.
They told Ezra, the teacher of the law,
to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.
So, on the first day of the seventh month
Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly,
which was made up of men and women
and all who were able to understand.
Ezra opened the book.
All the people could see him because he was standing above them.
And as he opened it, the people all stood up.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.
Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image,
in our likeness so that they may rule over the fish in the sea
and the birds in the sky,
over the livestock and all the wild animals
and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the Earth
and no plant had yet sprung up,
for the Lord God had not sent rain on the Earth
and there was no one to work the ground.
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and the man became a living being.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden,
and there he put the man he had formed.
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground
trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
In the middle of the garden were the tree of life
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanded the man,
"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden,
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die."
The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper suitable for him.
Now the snake was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, "Did God really say,
"You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?
You will not certainly die", the snake said to the woman.
"For God knows that when you eat from it,
your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food
and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom...
she took some...
and ate it.
She also gave some to her husband, who was with her
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened
and they realized they were naked.
So, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The snake deceived me, and I ate."
And the Lord God said,
"The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.
He must not be allowed to reach out his hand
and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.
So, the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden
to work the ground from which he had been taken.
The Lord saw how great the wickedness
of the human race had become on the Earth
and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart
was only evil all the time.
The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the Earth,
and his heart was deeply troubled.
So, the Lord said,
"I will wipe from the face of the Earth the human race I have created
and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures
that move along the ground, for I regret that I have made them.
I am going to bring floodwaters
on the Earth to destroy all life under the heavens,
every creature that has the breath of life in it.
Everything on Earth will perish.
Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
Every living thing on the face of the Earth was wiped out.
People and animals and the creatures that move along the ground
and the birds were wiped from the Earth.
Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
"I establish my covenant with you. Never again will all life be destroyed
by the waters of a flood.
Never again will there be a flood to destroy the Earth."
The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Ham was the father of Canaan.
These were the three sons of Noah,
and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole Earth.
The sons of Shem... Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad,
Lud, and Aram.
Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.
Eber, Peleg, Reu,
Serug, Nahor, Terah
and Abram.
That is... Abraham.
The Lord had said to Abram, "Go from your country,
your people and your father's household to the land I will show you.
I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.
I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you,
I will curse and all peoples on Earth will be blessed through you."
So, Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.
Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Haran.
He took his wife Sarai, his nephew, Lot,
all the possessions they had accumulated
and the people they had acquired in Haran...
and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.
"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
And Abram said, "You have given me no children.
So, a servant in my household will be my heir."
He took him outside and said, "Look up at the sky
and count the stars, if indeed you can count them."
Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Abram believed the Lord
and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children.
But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar.
So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai, his wife,
took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband
to be his wife.
He slept with Hagar and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Then Sarai said to Abram,
"You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering.
I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant,
she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me."
"Your slave is in your hands," Abram said.
"Do with her whatever you think best."
Then Sarai mistreated Hagar, so she fled from her.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert.
It was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
Then the angel of the Lord told her,
"Go back to your mistress and submit to her."
The angel added, "I will increase your descendants
so much that they will be too numerous to count."
So, Hagar bore Abram a son,
and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said,
"I am God Almighty.
Walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
No longer will you be called Abram.
Your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant
between me and you and your descendants after you
for the generations to come,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you."
God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai, your wife,
you are no longer to call her Sarai. Her name will be Sarah.
I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.
I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations,
kings of peoples will come from her."
Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age.
At the very time God had promised him.
Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
The child grew and was weaned.
And on the day Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a great feast.
But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar
the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking.
And she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son,
for that woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."
The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed
about the boy and your slave woman.
Listen to whatever Sarah tells you,
because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
I will make the son of the slave
into a nation also, because he is your offspring."
Early the next morning, Abraham took some food and a skin of water
and gave them to Hagar.
He set them on her shoulders...
and then sent her off with the boy.
She went on her way...
and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away.
For she thought, "'I cannot watch the boy die."
And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.
God heard the boy crying and the angel of God
called to Hagar from heaven and said to her,
"What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid.
God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
Lift the boy up and take him by the hand.
For I will make him into a great nation."
Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.
So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
God was with the boy as he grew up.
He lived in the desert and became an archer.
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
Then God said, "Take your son, your only son,
whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah."
"Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you"
Early the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey.
He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.
When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering,
he set out for the place God had told him about.
On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey
while I and the boy go over there.
We will worship and then we will come back to you."
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering
and placed it on his son Isaac,
and he himself carried the fire and the knife.
As the two of them went on together,
Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said,
"but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
Abraham answered "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."
And the two of them went on together.
When they reached the place God had told him about...
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
But the Angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am." he replied.
"Do not lay a hand on the boy", he said.
"Do not do anything to him.
Now I know that you fear God,
because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns.
He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it
as a burnt offering instead of his son.
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time,
and said, "I swear by myself," declares the Lord, "that because you
have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
I will surely bless you and make your descendants
as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.
Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies
and through your offspring, all nations on Earth
will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.
Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age,
an old man and full of years, and he was gathered to his people.
And Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah...
daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean from Paddan-aram
and sister of Laban the Aramean.
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless.
The Lord answered his prayer and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.
The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter,
a man of the open country,
while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.
God said to him,
"Your name is Jacob but you will no longer be called Jacob,
your name will be Israel." So, he named him Israel.
And God said to him, "I am God Almighty,
be fruitful and increase in number.
A nation and a community of nations will come from you,
and kings will be among your descendants."
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,
because he had been born to him in his old age...
and he made an ornate robe for him.
When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them,
they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
Joseph had a dream...
and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had.
We were binding sheaves of corn out in the field
when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright,
while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."
His brothers said to him,
"Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?"
And they hated him all the more
because of his dream and what he had said.
Then he had another dream,
and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said,
"I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon
and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem,
and Israel said to Joseph,
"As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.
Come, I am going to send you to them."
"Very well," he replied.
So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers
and with the flocks, and bring word back to me."
Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
So, Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.
But they saw him in the distance
and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
"Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other.
"Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns
and say that a ferocious animal devoured him.
Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."
So, when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe.
The ornate robe he was wearing.
And they took him and threw him into the cistern.
The cistern was empty. There was no water in it.
As they sat down to eat their meal,
they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.
Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh,
and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
Judah said to his brothers,
"What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites
and not lay our hands on him.
After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood."
His brothers agreed.
So when the Midianite merchants came by,
his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern.
And sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites...
who took him to Egypt.
They took the ornate robe back to their father and said,
"We found this.
Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."
He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe.
Some ferocious animal has devoured him.
Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."
All his sons and daughters came to comfort him,
but he refused to be comforted.
"No," he said, "I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave."
So, his father wept for him.
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.
Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials,
the captain of the guard,
bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
When his master saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,
Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.
Potiphar put him in charge of his household,
and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
So, Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care.
With Joseph in charge,
he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
and after a while his master's wife
took notice of Joseph and said...
"Come to bed with me."
And though she spoke to Joseph day after day,
he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties,
and none of the household servants was inside.
She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!"
But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
She called her household servants. "Look!"
She said to them, "This Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us!
He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed."
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying,
"This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger.
Joseph's master took him and put him in prison,
the place where the king's prisoners were confined.
When two full years had passed,
Pharaoh had a dream.
In the morning, his mind was troubled,
so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt.
Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.
Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh,
"Today, I am reminded of my shortcomings."
Pharaoh was once angry with his servants,
and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard.
Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.
Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard.
We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us,
giving each man the interpretation of his dream.
And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us.
I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.
So, Pharaoh sent for Joseph...
and he was quickly brought from the dungeon.
When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.
Pharaoh said to Joseph,
"I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.
But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream,
you can interpret it."
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,
"In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile,
when out of the river there came up seven cows,
fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.
After them, seven other cows came up. Scrawny and very ugly and lean.
I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.
In my dream, I saw seven ears of corn, full and good, growing on a single stalk.
After them, seven other ears sprouted.
Withered and thin and scorched by the east wind.
The thin heads of corn swallowed up the seven good ears.
I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me."
Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt,
but seven years of famine will follow them.
Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten,
and the famine will ravage the land.
The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms
is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you,
there is no one so discerning and wise as you."
So Pharaoh said to Joseph,
"I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt."
Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger
and put it on Joseph's finger.
He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.
During the seven years of abundance, the land produced plentifully.
Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea.
It was so much that he stopped keeping records
because it was beyond measure.
The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end,
and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said.
There was famine in all the other lands,
but in the whole land of Egypt there was food.
When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food.
Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph and do what he tells you."
And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph,
because the famine was severe everywhere.
So, Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain,
for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.
As soon as Joseph saw his brothers,
he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger
and spoke harshly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked.
"From the land of Canaan," they replied "to buy food."
Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them,
"You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected."
"No, my Lord," they answered. "Your servants have come to buy food.
We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies."
Joseph said to them, "It is just as I told you,
you are spies!
And this is how you will be tested.
As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place
unless your youngest brother comes here.
If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison,
while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households.
But you must bring your youngest brother to me,
so that your words may be verified and that you may not die."
This they proceeded to do.
They did not realize that Joseph could understand them,
since he was using an interpreter.
At the place where they stopped for the night,
one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey,
and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack.
"My silver has been returned," he said to his brothers. "Here it is in my sack."
Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling
and said, "What is this that God has done to us?"
When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan,
they told him all that had happened to them.
They said, "The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us
and treated us as though we were spying on the land."
Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be, then do this,
put some of the best products of the land in your bags
and take them down to the man as a gift.
A little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh,
some pistachio nuts and almonds.
Take your brother also and go back to the man at once.
And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man
so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you.
As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."
So, the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also.
They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph.
When Joseph came home,
they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house,
and they bowed down before him to the ground.
He asked them how they were, and then he said,
"How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?"
They replied "Your servant, our father, is still alive and well."
And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.
As he looked about and saw his brother, Benjamin, his own mother's son,
he asked, "Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?"
And he said, "God be gracious to you, my son."
Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me."
When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph.
The one you sold into Egypt.
And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves
for selling me here, because it was to save lives
that God sent me ahead of you.
For two years now, there has been famine in the land,
and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping.
But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on Earth
and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.
He made me father to Pharaoh,
lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
Now hurry back to my father and say to him,
"This is what your son, Joseph, says.
God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don't delay."
So, Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt
and gave them property in the best part of the land,
the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.
Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen.
They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.
Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.
"Look," he said to his people,
"the Israelites have become far too numerous for us."
"Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous
and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies,
fight against us and leave the country."
So, they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor,
and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.
So, the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
and worked them ruthlessly.
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people.
"Every Hebrew boy that is born
you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."
Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman,
and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.
But when she could hide him no longer,
she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch.
Then she placed the child in it
and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe,
and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.
She saw the basket among the reeds
and sent her female slave to get it.
She opened it and saw the baby.
He was crying, and she felt sorry for him.
"This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.
Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter,
"Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women
to nurse the baby for you?"
"Yes, go," she answered.
So, the girl went and got the baby's mother.
Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me,
and I will pay you."
So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter
and he became her son.
She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."
One day, after Moses had grown up,
he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor.
He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
Looking this way and that and seeing no one...
he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses,
but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,
where he sat down by a well.
During that long period, the king of Egypt died.
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help,
because of their slavery, went up to God.
God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant
with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.
So, God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,
and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire
from within a bush.
Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look,
God called to him from within the bush,
"Moses! Moses!"
And Moses said, "Here I am."
"Do not come any closer," God said.
"Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."
Then he said, "I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."
At this, Moses hid his face,
because he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.
I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers,
and I am concerned about their suffering.
So, now, go.
I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites
and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,'
and they ask me, 'What is his name?'
Then what shall I tell them?"
God said to Moses, "I am who I am.
This is what you are to say to the Israelites.
'I am has sent me to you.'"
Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me
or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?"
Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"
"A staff," he replied.
The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake...
and he ran from it.
Then the Lord said to him,
"Reach out your hand and take it by the tail."
So, Moses reached out and took hold of the snake
and it turned back into a staff in his hand.
"This," said the Lord, "is so that they may believe
that the Lord, the God of their fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."
Moses said to the Lord, "Pardon your servant, Lord.
I have never been eloquent,
neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant.
I am slow of speech and tongue."
But Moses said, "Pardon your servant, Lord.
Please send someone else."
Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses
and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite?
I know he can speak well.
He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.
He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth
and as if you were God to him."
The Lord said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt,
see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you
the power to do.
But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go."
Afterward, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said,
"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says,
'Let my people go,
so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.'"
Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him
and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go."
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us.
Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices
to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword."
But the king of Egypt said, "Moses and Aaron,
why are you taking the people away from their labor?
Get back to your work!"
That same day,
Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers
and overseers in charge of the people.
"Make the work harder for the people
so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies."
Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Why, Lord,
why have you brought trouble on this people?
Is this why you sent me?
Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name,
he has brought trouble on this people,
and you have not rescued your people at all."
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you will see
what I will do to Pharaoh.
Because of my mighty hand, he will let them go.
Because of my mighty hand, he will drive them out of his country.
Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites,
whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
But I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt,
he will not listen to you.
Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment,
I will bring out my divisions, my people, the Israelites.
And the Egyptians will know that I am the lord
when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."
Now the Lord had said to Moses,
"I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt.
After that, he will let you go from here,
and when he does, he will drive you out completely.
Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month,
each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides
and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs.
That same night, they are to eat the meat roasted
over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.
This is how you are to eat it. With your cloak tucked into your belt,
your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand.
Eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.
On that same night, I will pass through Egypt
and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals...
and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.
The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are,
and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt."
At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne,
to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon,
and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
Pharaoh and all his officials got up during the night,
and there was loud wailing in Egypt,
for there was not a house without someone dead.
During the night, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said,
"Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go!
Worship the Lord as you have requested.
Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go.
And also bless me."
Now, the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.
At the end of the 430 years, to the very day,
all the Lord's divisions left Egypt.
Then Moses said to the people,
"Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it
with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast."
When Pharaoh let the people go,
God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country,
though that was shorter.
For God said, "If they face war,
they might change their minds and return to Egypt."
So, God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.
By day, the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud
to guide them on their way
and by night, in a pillar of fire to give them light,
so that they could travel by day or night.
Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi-Hahiroth,
between Migdol and the sea.
They are to camp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-Zephon."
Pharaoh will think,
"The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion,
hemmed in by the desert."
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said,
"What have we done?
We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!"
So, he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.
The Egyptians, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops.
pursued the Israelites and overtook them
as they camped by the sea near Pi-Hahiroth,
opposite Baal-Zephon.
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up,
and there were the Egyptians, marching after them.
They were terrified and crying out to the Lord.
They said to Moses,
"Was it because there were no graves in Egypt
that you brought us to the desert to die?
What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?
Didn't we say to you in Egypt,
'Leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians'?
It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid.
Stand firm and you will see the deliverance
the Lord will bring you today.
The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.
The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still."
Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea
to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground."
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and all that night, the Lord drove the sea back
with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land.
The waters were divided,
and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground,
with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
The Egyptians pursued them,
and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.
Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Stretch out your hand over the sea
so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians
and their chariots and horsemen."
The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen.
The entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea.
Not one of them survived.
That day, the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians,
and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
And when the Israelites saw
the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians,
the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him.
And in Moses, his servant.
The whole Israelite community
set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin,
which is between Elim and Sinai,
on the 15th day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
In the desert, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them,
"If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt!
There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted,
but you have brought us out into this desert
to starve this entire assembly to death."
So, Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites,
"In the evening, you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt,
and in the morning, you will see the glory of the Lord,
because he has heard your grumbling against him.
Who are we, that you should grumble against us?"
Moses also said, "You will know that it was the Lord
when he gives you meat to eat in the evening
and all the bread you want in the morning,
because he has heard your grumbling against him.
Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord."
That evening quail came and covered the camp.
And in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
When the dew was gone,
thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.
When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other,
"What is it?" For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them...
"It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.
This is what the Lord has commanded.
Everyone is to gather as much as they need.
Take an omer for each person you have in your tent."
The Israelites did as they were told, some gathered much, some little.
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin,
traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded.
They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
So, they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink."
Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me?
Why do you put the Lord to the test?"
But the people were thirsty for water there,
and they grumbled against Moses.
They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt
to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?"
Then Moses cried out to the Lord,
"What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."
The Lord answered Moses, "Go out in front of the people.
Take with you some of the elders of Israel
and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.
Strike the rock...
and water will come out of it for the people to drink."
So, Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
After they set out from Rephidim,
they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert
in front of the mountain.
On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning,
with a thick cloud over the mountain...
and a very loud trumpet blast.
Everyone in the camp trembled.
The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai
and called Moses to the top of the mountain.
So, Moses went up.
And God spoke all these words.
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything
in heaven above or on the Earth beneath or in the waters below.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God,
for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and your mother,
so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant,
his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Tell the Israelites this.
'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.
Do not make any gods to be alongside me.
Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold'."
When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai,
he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law,
the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain,
they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us.
As for this fellow, Moses, who brought us up out of Egypt,
we don't know what has happened to him."
Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt,
have become corrupt.
They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them
and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf.
They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said,
'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt'."
When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting,
he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp."
Moses replied, "It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat.
It is the sound of singing that I hear."
When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing,
his anger burned
and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces
at the foot of the mountain.
He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you,
that you led them into such great sin?"
So, Moses went back to the Lord and said...
"Oh, what a great sin these people have committed.
They have made themselves gods of gold.
But now, please forgive their sin, but if not,
then blot me out of the book you have written."
The Lord replied to Moses,
"Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book."
Moses said to the Lord,
"You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,'
but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.
You have said, "I know you by name and you have found favor with me."
If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways
so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.
Remember that this nation is your people."
The Lord said to Moses,
"Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones,
and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets,
which you broke."
Then the Lord said,
"I am making a covenant with you.
Before all your people,
I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world.
The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I,
the Lord, will do for you."
Moses assembled the whole Israelite community
and said to them, "These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do.
All who are skilled among you
are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded.
The tabernacle with its tent and its covering,
clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases.
The ark with its poles and the atonement cover
and the curtain that shields it.
The table with its poles and all its articles
and the bread of the Presence.
The lampstand that is for light
with its accessories, lamps and oil for the light.
The altar of incense with its poles,
the anointing oil and the fragrant incense.
The curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle.
The altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating,
its poles and all its utensils.
The bronze basin with its stand."
The Israelites had done all the work just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Moses inspected the work...
and saw that they had done it, just as the Lord had commanded.
So, Moses blessed them.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
So, they set out from the mountain of the Lord and traveled for three days.
The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them
during those three days to find them a place to rest.
The Lord said to Moses,
"Send some men to explore the land of Canaan,
which I am giving to the Israelites.
From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders."
When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said,
"Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.
See what the land is like and whether the people who live there
are strong or weak, few or many.
How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not?
Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land."
At the end of 40 days, they returned from exploring the land.
They came back to Moses and Aaron
and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran.
There they reported to them
and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.
They gave Moses this account,
"We went into the land to which you sent us,
and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit."
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said,
"We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."
But the men who had gone up with him said,
"We can't attack those people. They are stronger than we are."
And they spread among the Israelites
a bad report about the land they had explored.
They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it.
All the people we saw there are of great size."
That night, all the members of the community
raised their voices and wept aloud.
All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron,
and the whole assembly said to them,
"If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!
Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword?
Our wives and children will be taken as plunder.
Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"
And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt."
Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown
in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.
But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.
Then the glory of the Lord
appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.
The Lord said to Moses,
"How long will these people treat me with contempt?
How long will they refuse to believe in me,
in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?
I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them,
but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they."
Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear about it.
By your power, you brought these people up from among them.
If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive,
the nations, who have heard this report about you, will say,
'The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land
he promised them on oath, so, he slaughtered them in the wilderness.'
In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people,
just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now."
The Lord replied...
"I have forgiven them, as you asked.
Nevertheless, as surely as I live
and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole Earth,
not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt
and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times.
Not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors.
No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it."
The Lord's anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness
for 40 years,
until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
In the 40th year, on the first day of the eleventh month,
Moses proclaimed to the Israelites
all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Remember how the Lord your God
led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years,
to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart,
whether or not you would keep his commands.
Observe the commands of the Lord your God,
walking in obedience to him and revering him.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land.
A land with brooks, streams,
and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills.
The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you,
from your fellow Israelites.
You must listen to him.
You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God,
a covenant the Lord is making with you this day
and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as his people...
that he may be your God as he promised you...
and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham,
Isaac
and Jacob.
For I command you today to love the Lord your God,
to walk in obedience to him,
and to keep his commands, decrees and laws.
Then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God
will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient,
and if you are drawn away
to bow down to other gods and worship them,
I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.
You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan
to enter and possess.
I am now 120 years old and I am no longer able to lead you.
The Lord has said to me,
'You shall not cross the Jordan'."
Then Moses summoned Joshua
and said to him in the presence of all Israel...
"Be strong and courageous,
for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord
swore to their ancestors to give them,
and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you.
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged."
Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab
to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho.
There the Lord showed him the whole land, from Gilead to Dan.
Then the Lord said to him,
"This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.'
I have let you see it with your eyes,
but you will not cross over into it."
And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in Moab, as the Lord had said.
He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor,
but to this day, no one knows where his grave is.
Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses,
whom the Lord knew face-to-face,
who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt,
to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.
For no one has ever shown the mighty power
or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Now what I am commanding you today
is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
No.
The word is very near you.
It is in your mouth and in your heart so, you may obey it.
This day, I call the heavens and the Earth as witnesses against you.
That I have set before you life and death,
blessings and curses.
Now, choose life...
so that you and your children may live.
"The days are coming," declares the Lord,
"when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time," declares the Lord.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people."
Thus there were 14 generations in all from Abraham to David,
14 from David to the exile to Babylon
and 14 from the exile to the Messiah.