50 Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.i 2 Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,j 3 taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.k

4 When the days of mourningl had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court,m “If I have found favor in your eyes,n speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, 5 ‘My father made me swear an oatho and said, “I am about to die;p bury me in the tomb I dug for myselfq in the land of Canaan.”r Now let me go up and bury my father;s then I will return.’ ”

6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officialst accompanied him—the dignitaries of his courtu and all the dignitaries of Egypt—8 besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household.v Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen.w 9 Chariotsx and horsemena also went up with him. It was a very large company.

10 When they reached the threshing floory of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly;z and there Joseph observed a seven-day perioda of mourningb for his father.c 11 When the Canaanitesd who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.”e That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.b

12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them:f 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah,g near Mamre,h which Abraham had bought along with the fieldi as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.j 14 After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.k

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudgel against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”m 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructionsn before he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sinso and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’p Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.q” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.r

18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.s “We are your slaves,”t they said.

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?u 20 You intended to harm me,v but God intendedw it for goodx to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.y 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.z” And he reassured them and spoke kindlya to them.

The Death of Joseph

22 Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten yearsb 23 and saw the third generationc of Ephraim’sd children.e Also the children of Makirf son of Manassehg were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.c h

24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die.i But God will surely come to your aidj and take you up out of this land to the landk he promised on oath to Abraham,l Isaacm and Jacob.”n 25 And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oatho and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bonesp up from this place.”q

26 So Joseph diedr at the age of a hundred and ten.s And after they embalmed him,t he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Exodus

Exodus records how God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and led them into the Desert of Sinai. In the desert on Mount Sinai God handed down to Moses the laws to govern the new nation.

The Israelites Oppressed

1 These are the names of the sons of Israela who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.b 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventya in all;c Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,d 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numberse and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.f 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerousg for us.h 10 Come, we must deal shrewdlyi 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.”j

11 So they put slave mastersk over them to oppress them with forced labor,l and they built Pithom and Ramesesm as store citiesn for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly.o 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh laborp in brickq and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.r

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,s whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”t 17 The midwives, however, fearedu God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do;v they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”w

20 So God was kind to the midwivesx and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives fearedy God, he gave them familiesz of their own.

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile,a but let every girl live.”b

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man of the tribe of Levic married a Levite woman,d 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a finee child, she hid him for three months.f 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrusg basketa for him and coated it with tar and pitch.h Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reedsi along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sisterj stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.k She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 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.

7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 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. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She namedl him Moses,b saying, “I drewm him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own peoplen were and watched them at their hard labor.o He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”p

14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?q Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to killr Moses, but Moses fleds from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,t where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midianu had seven daughters, and they came to draw waterv and fill the troughsw to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescuex and watered their flock.y

18 When the girls returned to Reuelz their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”a

21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporahb to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,c c saying, “I have become a foreignerd in a foreign land.”

23 During that long period,e the king of Egypt died.f The Israelites groaned in their slaveryg and cried out, and their cryh for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he rememberedi his covenantj with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concernedk about them.

Moses and the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethrol his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,m and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,n the mountaino of God. 2 There the angel of the Lordp appeared to him in flames of fireq from within a bush.r Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God calleds to him from within the bush,t “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”u

5 “Do not come any closer,”v God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”w 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,a the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”x At this, Moses hidy his face, because he was afraid to look at God.z

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seena the miseryb of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concernedc about their suffering.d 8 So I have come downe to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,f a land flowing with milk and honeyg—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivitesh and Jebusites.i 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressingj them. 10 So now, go. I am sendingk you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”l

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am Im that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you.n And this will be the signo to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, youb will worship God on this mountain.p”

13 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?’q Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.c This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I amr has sent me to you.’ ”

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,d the God of your fatherss—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacobt—has sent me to you.’

“This is my nameu forever,

the name you shall call me

from generation to generation.v

16 “Go, assemble the eldersw of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacobx—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seeny what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egyptz into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’a

18 “The elders of Israel will listenb to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews,c has metd with us. Let us take a three-day journeye into the wilderness to offer sacrificesf to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty handg compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my handh and strike the Egyptians with all the wondersi that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.j

21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposedk toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.l 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silverm and goldn and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plundero the Egyptians.”p