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After Joseph died, the children of Israel were fruitful and multiplied greatly. A new king who didn't know Joseph feared them, so he made them slaves and gave them hard work, but the more they were oppressed, the more they grew. Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill the baby boys, but they feared God and saved the babies alive. God was kind to the midwives and gave them families.
A Levite woman had a son and hid him for three months. Then she placed him in a basket among the reeds of the Nile, while his sister watched. Pharaoh's daughter found him, had compassion, and his sister arranged for his own mother to nurse him. He grew up as the princess's son, named Moses. As a man, Moses killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew and fled to Midian, where he married Zipporah. Israel groaned in slavery, and God heard them and remembered His covenant.
While Moses tended Jethro's flock near Horeb, the mountain of God, the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire from a bush that was not consumed. God called, Moses! Moses! and told him to remove his sandals, for he stood on holy ground. God said He had seen His people's affliction and would send Moses to Pharaoh to bring them out. When Moses asked God's name, God said, I AM WHO I AM. God promised to be with Moses and to bring Israel to a good land.
Moses worried that the people would not believe him, so God gave him signs: his staff became a snake, his hand became leprous and was healed, and water from the Nile would turn to blood. Moses said he was not eloquent, but God asked, Who made man's mouth? and promised, I will be with your mouth. When Moses asked God to send someone else, God was angry but gave Aaron to speak for him. Moses returned to Egypt, Aaron met him, and the elders believed and worshiped when they heard that God had seen their affliction.
Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. Pharaoh answered, Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice? He made the slaves' work harder, forcing them to gather their own straw while making the same number of bricks. The Israelite officers were beaten and blamed Moses and Aaron. Moses brought his discouragement to God in prayer.
God answered Moses: Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. God reminded Moses that He had appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and made a covenant to give them Canaan. God promised, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. He also said, I will take you to myself for a people. I will be your God. But the Israelites did not listen because of their anguish and cruel bondage. The chapter lists the families of Reuben, Simeon and Levi, showing the family line of Moses and Aaron.
God told Moses that Aaron would be his prophet before Pharaoh, and that God would multiply His signs so the Egyptians would know He is Yahweh. Aaron threw down his rod and it became a serpent; Pharaoh's magicians did the same, but Aaron's rod swallowed their rods. Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Then, at God's command, Aaron struck the Nile and the water turned to blood. The fish died, and the Egyptians could not drink the water. The magicians imitated it, and Pharaoh's heart remained hard.
Pharaoh refused to let Israel go, so God sent frogs over all Egypt. Pharaoh begged Moses to pray, and the frogs died, but Pharaoh hardened his heart. Then Aaron struck the dust and it became lice (gnats); the magicians could not copy this and said, This is God's finger. Next came swarms of flies, but God made a distinction: no flies came to Goshen where Israel lived. Pharaoh offered compromises, Moses prayed, the flies left, and Pharaoh hardened his heart again.
God sent a disease on Egypt's livestock, but none of Israel's animals died. Then Moses threw ashes toward the sky, and boils broke out on people and animals; even the magicians could not stand before Moses. God warned of terrible hail and told Egyptians to shelter their servants and animals. Those who feared God's word obeyed. Thunder, hail and fire struck Egypt, but not Goshen. Pharaoh said, I have sinned, but when the storm stopped he hardened his heart again.
God sent Moses to Pharaoh to warn of locusts, so that Israel would tell their children what God had done. Pharaoh's servants urged him to let Israel go, but he would allow only the men to leave. An east wind brought locusts that ate every plant left after the hail. Pharaoh confessed his sin, but hardened his heart again. Then thick darkness covered Egypt for three days, but all Israel had light in their homes. Pharaoh refused to let the flocks go and told Moses never to see his face again.
God told Moses there would be one more plague, after which Pharaoh would drive Israel out. God gave Israel favor with the Egyptians, so that they would receive silver and gold jewelry from their neighbors. Moses warned Pharaoh that at midnight the firstborn in Egypt would die, but that among Israel not even a dog would bark, so that Egypt would know Yahweh makes a distinction. Moses left Pharaoh in hot anger, and Pharaoh's heart remained hard.
God instructed Israel to begin a new calendar and keep the Passover. Each household was to take a lamb without blemish, kill it at twilight, and put its blood on the doorposts and lintel. They would eat it roasted, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, ready to leave. God said, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. At midnight the firstborn of Egypt died, and there was a great cry. Pharaoh told Israel to go. After 430 years, Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt, and they were to remember this night for all generations.
God told Israel to set apart every firstborn to Him and to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, explaining it to their children: By strength of hand Yahweh brought us out of Egypt. God led the people not by the short way through Philistine land, but by the wilderness toward the Red Sea. Moses took Joseph's bones with them, as Joseph had asked. Yahweh went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
God led Israel to camp by the sea, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened again. He chased them with his chariots. The Israelites were terrified and complained, but Moses said, Don't be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh. He added, Yahweh will fight for you. The pillar of cloud moved between Israel and Egypt. Moses stretched out his hand, and God drove the sea back with a strong east wind all night, and Israel walked through on dry ground with walls of water on each side. When the Egyptians followed, the waters returned and covered them. Israel feared Yahweh and believed Him and His servant Moses.
After crossing the sea, Moses and Israel sang a song of praise: I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. They praised God as their strength, song and salvation, and asked, Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Miriam led the women with tambourines and dancing. Three days later at Marah the water was bitter, and the people complained. God showed Moses a tree; he threw it into the water, and it became sweet. God said that He is Yahweh who heals you. Then they camped at Elim with twelve springs and seventy palm trees.
In the Wilderness of Sin, the Israelites complained that they had more food in Egypt. God said, I will rain bread from the sky for you. In the evening quail covered the camp, and in the morning a fine, flaky substance lay on the ground. The people asked, What is it? Moses said, It is the bread which Yahweh has given you. They were to gather enough for each day, and twice as much on the sixth day, resting on the Sabbath. Some disobeyed, but God provided. Israel ate manna forty years, and a jar was kept as a reminder.
At Rephidim there was no water, and the people quarreled with Moses and tested Yahweh, asking, Is Yahweh among us, or not? God told Moses to strike the rock at Horeb, and water came out. Then Amalek attacked Israel. Joshua led the fight while Moses held up the staff of God on a hill. When Moses' hands were raised, Israel prevailed; when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed. Aaron and Hur held up his hands until sunset, and Joshua defeated Amalek. Moses built an altar named Yahweh our Banner.
Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought Moses' wife and sons to the camp. Moses told him all Yahweh had done, and Jethro rejoiced and said, Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods, offering sacrifices to God. The next day Jethro saw Moses judging the people from morning to evening. He warned, The thing that you do is not good. He added, You will surely wear away. He advised Moses to teach God's laws and appoint capable, God-fearing, honest men to judge smaller cases. Moses listened and did all he said.
Three months after leaving Egypt, Israel camped at Mount Sinai. God told Moses to remind the people how He had carried them on eagles' wings and brought them to Himself. If they would obey His voice and keep His covenant, they would be His own treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The people answered, All that Yahweh has spoken we will do. They washed their clothes and prepared for three days. On the third day there was thunder, lightning, a thick cloud and a very loud trumpet. The mountain smoked and shook as God came down on it in fire.
God spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel: I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. He commanded them to have no other gods, make no idols, not misuse His name, remember the Sabbath, honor father and mother, and not murder, commit adultery, steal, lie or covet. The people trembled at the thunder and asked Moses to speak to them instead. Moses said, Don't be afraid, and explained that God had come to test them so they would not sin. God also gave instructions for a simple altar for worship.
After the Ten Commandments, God gave Moses ordinances to set before the people. These laws applied God's commands to daily life in Israel. They limited how long a Hebrew servant could serve, set him free in the seventh year and protected the rights of servant women. They treated harming or kidnapping people very seriously, required care for anyone injured, made owners responsible for dangerous animals and taught fair, limited justice, eye for eye, so punishment would match the wrong and not go beyond it.
God's laws continued with rules about property and responsibility. A thief had to pay back more than he stole, and anyone who damaged a neighbor's field or borrowed and harmed something had to make it right. God warned against false worship. He commanded His people not to wrong or oppress a foreigner, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt, and not to take advantage of any widow or orphan, because He hears their cry. Loans to the poor were to be without interest, and a cloak taken as a pledge had to be returned by sunset, for I am gracious.
God commanded His people not to spread false reports, follow a crowd in doing wrong, or twist justice for anyone, rich or poor. They were to help even an enemy's straying ox or donkey, take no bribes and not oppress foreigners. Every seventh year the land would rest so the poor could eat, and every seventh day people and animals would rest. Israel was to keep three yearly feasts to the Lord. God promised to send an angel ahead of them to guard them and bring them to the land He had prepared, and to drive out their enemies little by little.
Moses told the people all of God's words and laws, and they answered with one voice, All the words which Yahweh has spoken we will do. Moses wrote them down, built an altar with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes, and offered sacrifices. He read the Book of the Covenant, and the people promised again to obey. Moses sprinkled the blood of the covenant on them. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders saw a vision of God's glory and ate and drank before Him. Then Moses went up the mountain into the cloud, where the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire, and stayed forty days and forty nights.
On the mountain, God told Moses to receive an offering from everyone whose heart made them willing: gold, silver, bronze, colored yarn, wood, oil, spices and precious stones. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. God gave the pattern for the ark of the covenant, a gold-covered chest with a mercy seat and two golden cherubim on top, where He would meet with Moses. He also described a gold table for the bread of the presence and a lampstand of pure gold with seven lamps shaped like almond blossoms. Everything was to be made after the pattern shown on the mountain.
God gave Moses detailed plans for the tabernacle itself. It would have ten beautiful linen curtains of blue, purple and scarlet with cherubim woven into them, joined with gold clasps. Over them went coverings of goat hair, rams' skins dyed red and fine leather. Gold-covered boards of acacia wood stood in silver bases. A veil of blue, purple and scarlet with cherubim would hang inside to separate the holy place from the most holy place, where the ark would rest. The table and lampstand would stand in the holy place, and a colorful screen would hang at the door.
God told Moses to make a large altar of acacia wood covered with bronze, with horns on its four corners, a bronze grate and poles for carrying it. Around the tabernacle was to be a courtyard enclosed by fine linen hangings on pillars, one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide, with a colorful screen as its gate on the east side. The people were to bring pure olive oil so the lamp would burn continually, and Aaron and his sons would tend it from evening to morning before the Lord.
God chose Aaron and his sons to serve Him as priests and told Moses to have skilled workers make holy garments for glory and for beauty. The high priest would wear an ephod of gold, blue, purple and scarlet, with two onyx stones on the shoulders engraved with the names of Israel's tribes. Over his heart he would wear a breastplate with twelve precious stones, each engraved with a tribe's name, and the Urim and Thummim. He would also wear a blue robe with pomegranates and golden bells at the hem, and a turban with a gold plate engraved HOLY TO YAHWEH.
God told Moses how to consecrate Aaron and his sons as priests over seven days. Moses would wash them with water at the tent's door, dress them in the holy garments and anoint Aaron with oil. Sacrifices of a bull and two rams would be offered for their sin and their dedication. Some blood was placed on their right ears, thumbs and big toes, showing that all of them belonged to God. Each day, two lambs were to be offered, one in the morning and one in the evening. God promised, I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.
God told Moses to make a small gold-covered altar for burning incense, to stand before the veil. Aaron would burn sweet incense on it every morning and evening, and once a year he would make atonement on its horns. Each Israelite counted in the census was to give half a shekel as a ransom offering, the same amount for rich and poor, for the service of the Tent of Meeting. A bronze basin would stand between the tent and the altar so the priests could wash their hands and feet before serving. God also gave recipes for a holy anointing oil and a holy incense, set apart only for His worship.
God called Bezalel of the tribe of Judah by name and filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, knowledge and skill in all kinds of craftsmanship. He appointed Oholiab of the tribe of Dan to help him, and gave skill to all the wise-hearted workers to make everything He had commanded. God then told Israel to keep His Sabbaths as a sign between Him and them forever, for in six days He made heaven and earth and rested on the seventh. When God finished speaking with Moses, He gave him the two tablets of the testimony, written with the finger of God.
While Moses was on the mountain, the people grew impatient and asked Aaron to make them gods. Aaron collected their gold earrings and made a calf, and the people worshiped it, saying it had brought them out of Egypt. God told Moses that the people had corrupted themselves. Moses pleaded with God for them, remembering His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and God did not bring the disaster He had spoken of. When Moses came down and saw the calf and the dancing, he threw down the tablets and broke them, burned the calf and confronted Aaron. The sin brought serious judgment. Moses went back to God and offered to be blotted out of God's book if the people could be forgiven.
God told Moses to lead the people toward the promised land and said He would send an angel, but He would not go among them because they were stiff-necked. The people mourned and took off their jewelry. Moses pitched a tent outside the camp, called the Tent of Meeting, and the pillar of cloud came down at its door as God spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses pleaded, If your presence doesn't go with me, don't carry us up from here. God promised, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Moses asked to see God's glory. God placed him in a cleft of the rock and let His goodness pass by, showing His back but not His face.
God told Moses to cut two new stone tablets and climb Mount Sinai again. The Lord came down in the cloud and proclaimed His name: Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, forgiving sin yet not ignoring guilt. Moses quickly bowed and worshiped and asked God to go with them and forgive them. God renewed His covenant, promised wonders, and warned Israel not to make covenants with the nations or worship their idols. He repeated laws about feasts, firstborn and the Sabbath. Moses stayed forty days and nights, and God wrote the ten commandments on the tablets. When Moses came down, his face shone, so he wore a veil.
Moses gathered the people and reminded them to keep the Sabbath. Then he invited everyone with a willing heart to bring an offering for the tabernacle: gold, silver, bronze, colored yarn, fine linen, skins, wood, oil, spices and precious stones. Men and women whose hearts stirred them came and gave freely. Skilled women spun yarn and goats' hair. The leaders brought onyx stones and gems for the priest's ephod and breastplate. Moses announced that God had filled Bezalel and Oholiab with His Spirit and given them the ability to teach others.
Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled worker began the work. The people kept bringing freewill offerings every morning, until the craftsmen told Moses that the people were bringing much more than enough. Moses had a message proclaimed throughout the camp that no one should bring any more, and the people were restrained from giving. The workers made the ten curtains of fine linen with cherubim, the goats' hair curtains, the coverings of skins, the acacia wood frames overlaid with gold and the veil.
Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold, with rings and poles to carry it, and the mercy seat of pure gold with two cherubim of hammered gold facing each other, their wings covering the mercy seat. He made the table for the bread of the presence with its gold dishes, the pure gold lampstand with seven lamps shaped like almond blossoms, and the golden altar of incense. He also made the holy anointing oil and the pure, sweet incense.
Bezalel made the bronze altar of burnt offering with its horns, grating and poles, and the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. He made the courtyard with its linen hangings, pillars and bronze bases, and the colorful screen at the gate. The chapter ends with an account of the gold, silver and bronze given for the work, counted under Ithamar the priest. Bezalel of Judah made all that the Lord commanded Moses, with Oholiab of Dan.
The skilled workers made the priestly garments for Aaron: the ephod with its onyx stones bearing the names of Israel's tribes, the breastplate with twelve gems, the blue robe with golden bells and pomegranates, the linen tunics, turbans and sash, and the gold plate engraved HOLY TO YAHWEH. Seven times the chapter says it was done as the Lord commanded Moses. Then the people brought all the finished work to Moses. Moses saw that they had done everything just as the Lord commanded, and Moses blessed them.
On the first day of the first month of the second year, God told Moses to set up the tabernacle. Moses put the ark inside behind the veil, set the table, lampstand and golden altar in the holy place, placed the bronze altar and basin in the court, and hung the screen at the gate. He anointed everything and dressed and anointed Aaron and his sons as priests. Moses did everything as the Lord commanded. Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle so that even Moses could not enter. Throughout their journeys, Israel moved on when the cloud lifted, and it stayed over the tabernacle by day, with fire in it by night.