Exodus 12-18
English Standard Version
Chapter 12
1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2"This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers ' houses, a lamb for a household. 4And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
7"Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
8They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
10And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
11In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord 's Passover.
12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
13The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
14"This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
15Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
16On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.
17And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.
18In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
19For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.
20You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread."
21Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.
22Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
23For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
24You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
25And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.
26And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
27you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord 's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
28Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
29At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.
30And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
31Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, "Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said.
32Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!"
33The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, "We shall all be dead."
34So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
35The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
36And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
38A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
39And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
41At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
42It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
43And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
44but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him.
45No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it.
46It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
47All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
49There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you."
50All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
51And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
Chapter 13
1The Lord said to Moses, 2"Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine."
3Then Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
4Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.
5And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month.
6Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord.
7Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory.
8You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
9And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.
10You shall therefore keep 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 shall give it to you,
12you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord 's.
13Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.
14And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
15For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’
16It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt."
17When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, "Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt."
18But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.
19Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here."
20And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.
21And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
22The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
Chapter 14
1Then the Lord said to Moses, 2"Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4And I will harden Pharaoh 's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord." And they did so.
5When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"
6So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him,
7and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
8And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.
9The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh 's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
10When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.
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 in bringing us out of Egypt?
12Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
13And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
14The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
15The Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.
16Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.
17And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
18And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."
19Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,
20coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
22And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
23The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh 's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,
25clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians."
26Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen."
27So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.
28The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.
29But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
30Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
31Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and 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 man of war; the Lord is his name.
4 "Pharaoh 's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
7In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
10You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
13"You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 The Lord will reign forever and ever."
19For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
20Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
21And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."
22Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
23When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
24And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
25And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,
Chapter 16
1They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3and the people of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
4Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day 's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily."
6So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, "At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
7and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?"
8And Moses said, "When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him — what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord."
9Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’"
10And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.
11And the Lord said to Moses,
12"I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’"
13In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.
14And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.
15When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
16This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’"
17And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.
18But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.
19And Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it over till the morning."
20But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
21Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
22On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,
23he said to them, "This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’"
24So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.
25Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.
26Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none."
27On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
28And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
29See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day."
30So the people rested on the seventh day.
31Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
32Moses said, "This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’"
33And Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations."
34As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.
35The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
36(An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)
Chapter 17
1All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" 3But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" 4So Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5And the Lord said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
8Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
9So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."
10So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12But Moses ' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
14Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
15And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner,
16saying, "A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."
Chapter 18
1Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses ' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2Now Jethro, Moses ' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses ' wife, after he had sent her home, 3along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land"), 4and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, "The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh"). 5Jethro, Moses ' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God. 6And when he sent word to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her," 7Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. 8Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel 's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.
10Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
11Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people."
12And Jethro, Moses ' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses ' father-in-law before God.
13The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.
14When Moses ' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?"
15And Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God;
16when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws."
17Moses ' father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing is not good.
18You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.
19Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,
20and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.
21Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
22And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
23If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace."
24So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
25Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
26And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.
27Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.
