The Plague of Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his hearts and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signst of mine among them 2 that you may tell your childrenu and grandchildren how I dealt harshlyv with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”w

3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humblex yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 4 If you refusey to let them go, I will bring locustsz into your country tomorrow. 5 They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have lefta after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.b 6 They will fill your housesc and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’ ”d Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snaree to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”f

8 Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worshipg the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.”

9 Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festivalh to the Lord.”

10 Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil.a 11 No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.

12 And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your handi over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”

13 So Moses stretched out his staffj over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts;k 14 they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts,l nor will there ever be again. 15 They covered all the ground until it was black. They devouredm all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

16 Pharaoh quickly summonedn Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinnedo against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now forgivep my sin once more and prayq to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”

18 Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord.r 19 And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea.b Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. 20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,s and he would not let the Israelites go.

The Plague of Darkness

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darknesst spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darknessu covered all Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.v

24 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go,w worship the Lord. Even your women and childrenx may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”y

25 But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offeringsz to present to the Lord our God. 26 Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the Lord our God, and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord.”

27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,a and he was not willing to let them go. 28 Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”

29 “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appearb before you again.”

The Plague on the Firstborn

11 Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you goc from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.d 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”e 3 (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposedf toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regardedg in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

4 So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnighth I will go throughout Egypt.i 5 Every firstbornj son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill,k and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailingl throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinctionm between Egypt and Israel. 8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go,n you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.”o Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

9 The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listenp to you—so that my wondersq may be multiplied in Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,r and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

12:14–20pp—Lev 23:4–8; Nu 28:16–25; Dt 16:1–8

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month,s the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamba t for his family, one for each household.u 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,v and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,w when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.x 7 Then they are to take some of the bloody and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same nightz they are to eat the meat roasteda over the fire, along with bitter herbs,b and bread made without yeast.c 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.d 10 Do not leave any of it till morning;e if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 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;f it is the Lord’s Passover.g

12 “On that same night I will pass throughh Egypt and strike downi every firstbornj of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the godsk of Egypt. I am the Lord.l 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass overm you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.n

14 “This is a day you are to commemorate;o for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.p 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast.q On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut offr from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no works at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread,t because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt.u Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.v 18 In the first monthw you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreignerx or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut offy from the community of Israel. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live,z you must eat unleavened bread.”a

21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passoverb lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop,c dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the bloodd on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strikee down the Egyptians, he will see the bloodf on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass overg that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyerh to enter your houses and strike you down.

24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinancei for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the landj that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your childrenk ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passoverl sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ”m Then the people bowed down and worshiped.n 28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commandedo Moses and Aaron.

29 At midnightp the Lordq struck down all the firstbornr 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 livestocks as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailingt in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

The Exodus

31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worshipu the Lord as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds,v as you have said, and go. And also blessw me.”

33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurryx and leavey the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!”z 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughsa wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and goldb and for clothing.c 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposedd toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plunderede the Egyptians.

37 The Israelites journeyed from Ramesesf to Sukkoth.g There were about six hundred thousand menh on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other peoplei went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven outj of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egyptb was 430 years.k 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisionsl left Egypt.m 42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.n

Passover Restrictions

43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal:o

“No foreignerp may eat it. 44 Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcisedq him, 45 but a temporary resident or a hired workerr may not eat it.

46 “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.s 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

48 “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land.t No uncircumcisedu male may eat it. 49 The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreignerv residing among you.”

50 All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commandedw Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egyptx by their divisions.y

Consecration of the Firstborn

13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male.z The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt,a out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand.b Eat nothing containing yeast.c 4 Today, in the month of Aviv,d you are leaving. 5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites,e Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusitesf—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honeyg—you are to observe this ceremonyh in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festivali to the Lord. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son,j ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your handk and a reminder on your foreheadl that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.m 10 You must keep this ordinancen at the appointed timeo year after year.

11 “After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanitesp and gives it to you, as he promised on oathq to you and your ancestors,r 12 you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord.s 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey,t but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.u Redeemv every firstborn among your sons.w

14 “In days to come, when your sonx asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.y 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’z 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your foreheada that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

Crossing the Sea

17 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.”b 18 So God ledc the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.a The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.d

19 Moses took the bones of Josephe with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”b f

20 After leaving Sukkothg they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.h 21 By day the Lord went aheadi of them in a pillar of cloudj 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. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night leftk its place in front of the people.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdoll and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.m 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,n and he will pursue them.o But I will gain gloryp for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”q So the Israelites did this.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled,r Pharaoh and his officials changed their mindss about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots,t along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heartu of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.v 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horsesw and chariots, horsemena and troopsx—pursued the Israelites and overtooky them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.z

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and crieda out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?b What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 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!”c

13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid.d Stand firm and you will seee the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never seef again. 14 The Lord will fightg for you; you need only to be still.”h

15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?i Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staffj and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the waterk so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the heartsl of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them.m And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lordn when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

19 Then the angel of God,o who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloudp also moved from in front and stood behindq them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darknessr to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hands over the sea,t and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east windu and turned it into dry land.v The waters were divided,w 22 and the Israelites went through the seax on dry ground,y with a wallz of water on their right and on their left.

23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemena followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloudb at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.c 25 He jammedb the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fightingd for them against Egypt.”e

26 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.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place.f The Egyptians were fleeing towardc it, and the Lord swept them into the sea.g 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea.h Not one of them survived.i

29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground,j with a wallk of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord savedl Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty handm of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people fearedn the Lord and put their trusto in him and in Moses his servant.