Exodus 13-16

Exodus 13

¹And the Lord said to Moses,

²Let the first male child of every mother among the children of Israel be kept holy for me, even the first male birth among man or beast; for it is mine.

³And Moses said to the people, Let this day, on which you came out of Egypt, out of your prison-house, be kept for ever in memory; for by the strength of his hand the Lord has taken you out from this place; let no leavened bread be used.

⁴On this day, in the month Abib, you are going out.

⁵And it will be that, when the Lord takes you into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, the land which he made an oath to your fathers that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you will do this act of worship in this month.

⁶For seven days let your food be unleavened cakes; and on the seventh day there is to be a feast to the Lord.

⁷Unleavened cakes are to be your food through all the seven days; let no leavened bread be seen among you, or any leaven, in any part of your land.

⁸And you will say to your son in that day, It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.

⁹And this will be for a sign to you on your hand and for a mark on your brow, so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth: for with a strong hand the Lord took you out of Egypt.

¹⁰So let this order be kept, at the right time, from year to year.

¹¹And when the Lord takes you into the land of Canaan, as he made his oath to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you,

¹²You are to put on one side for the Lord every mother's first male child, the first-fruit of her body, and the first young one of every beast; every male is holy to the Lord.

¹³And for the young of an ass you may give a lamb in payment, or if you will not make payment for it, its neck is to be broken; but for all the first sons among your children, let payment be made.

¹⁴And when your son says to you in time to come, What is the reason for this? say to him, By the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt, out of the prison-house:

¹⁵And when Pharaoh made his heart hard and would not let us go, the Lord sent death on all the first sons in Egypt, of man and of beast: and so every first male who comes to birth is offered to the Lord; but for all the first of my sons I give a price.

¹⁶And this will be for a sign on your hand and for a mark on your brow: for by the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt.

¹⁷Now after Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not take them through the land of the Philistines, though that was near: for God said, If the people see war, they may have a change of heart and go back to Egypt.

¹⁸But God took the people round by the waste land near the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up in fighting order out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁹And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly keep you in mind; and you are to take my bones away with you.

²⁰Then they went on their journey from Succoth, and put up their tents in Etham at the edge of the waste land.

²¹And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, guiding them on their way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light: so that they were able to go on day and night:

²²The pillar of cloud went ever before them by day, and the pillar of fire by night.

Exodus 14

¹And the Lord said to Moses,

²Give orders to the children of Israel to go back and put up their tents before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon, opposite to which you are to put up your tents by the sea.

³And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are wandering without direction, they are shut in by the waste land.

⁴And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and he will come after them and I will be honoured over Pharaoh and all his army, so that the Egyptians may see that I am the Lord. And they did so.

⁵And word came to Pharaoh of the flight of the people: and the feeling of Pharaoh and of his servants about the people was changed, and they said, Why have we let Israel go, so that they will do no more work for us?

⁶So he had his war-carriage made ready and took his people with him:

⁷And he took six hundred carriages, all the carriages of Egypt, and captains over all of them.

⁸And the Lord made the heart of Pharaoh hard, and he went after the children of Israel: for the children of Israel had gone out without fear.

⁹But the Egyptians went after them, all the horses and carriages of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them in their tents by the sea, by Pihahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

¹⁰And when Pharaoh came near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians coming after them, and were full of fear; and their cry went up to God.

¹¹And they said to Moses, Was there no resting-place for the dead in Egypt, that you have taken us away to come to our death in the waste land? why have you taken us out of Egypt?

¹²Did we not say to you in Egypt, Let us be as we are, working for the Egyptians? for it is better to be the servants of the Egyptians than to come to our death in the waste land.

¹³But Moses said, Keep where you are and have no fear; now you will see the salvation of the Lord which he will give you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.

¹⁴The Lord will make war for you, you have only to keep quiet.

¹⁵And the Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to me? give the children of Israel the order to go forward.

¹⁶And let your rod be lifted up and your hand stretched out over the sea, and it will be parted in two; and the children of Israel will go through on dry land.

¹⁷And I will make the heart of the Egyptians hard, and they will go in after them: and I will be honoured over Pharaoh and over his army, his war-carriages, and his horsemen.

¹⁸And the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord, when I get honour over Pharaoh and his war-carriages and his horsemen.

¹⁹Then the angel of God, who had been before the tents of Israel, took his place at their back; and the pillar of cloud, moving from before them, came to rest at their back:

²⁰And it came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel; and there was a dark cloud between them, and they went on through the night; but the one army came no nearer to the other all the night.

²¹And when Moses' hand was stretched out over the sea, the Lord with a strong east wind made the sea go back all night, and the waters were parted in two and the sea became dry land.

²²And the children of Israel went through the sea on dry land: and the waters were a wall on their right side and on their left.

²³Then the Egyptians went after them into the middle of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses and his war-carriages and his horsemen.

²⁴And in the morning watch, the Lord, looking out on the armies of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, sent trouble on the army of the Egyptians;

²⁵And made the wheels of their war-carriages stiff, so that they had hard work driving them: so the Egyptians said, Let us go in flight from before the face of Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.

²⁶And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out over the sea, and the waters will come back again on the Egyptians, and on their war-carriages and on their horsemen.

²⁷And when Moses' hand was stretched out over the sea, at dawn the sea came flowing back, meeting the Egyptians in their flight, and the Lord sent destruction on the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.

²⁸And the waters came back, covering the war-carriages and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh which went after them into the middle of the sea; not one of them was to be seen.

²⁹But the children of Israel went through the sea walking on dry land, and the waters were a wall on their right side and on their left.

³⁰So that day the Lord gave Israel salvation from the hands of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea's edge.

³¹And Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done against the Egyptians, and the fear of the Lord came on the people and they had faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Exodus 15

¹Then Moses and the children of Israel made this song to the Lord, and said, I will make a song to the Lord, for he is lifted up in glory: the horse and the horseman he has sent down into the sea.

²The Lord is my strength and my strong helper, he has become my salvation: he is my God and I will give him praise; my father's God and I will give him glory.

³The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

⁴Pharaoh's war-carriages and his army he has sent down into the sea: the best of his captains have gone down into the Red Sea.

⁵They were covered by the deep waters: like a stone they went down under the waves.

⁶Full of glory, O Lord, is the power of your right hand; by your right hand those who came against you are broken.

⁷When you are lifted up in power, all those who come against you are crushed: when you send out your wrath, they are burned up like dry grass.

⁸By your breath the waves were massed together, the flowing waters were lifted up like a pillar; the deep waters became solid in the heart of the sea.

⁹Egypt said, I will go after them, I will overtake, I will make division of their goods: my desire will have its way with them; my sword will be uncovered, my hand will send destruction on them.

¹⁰You sent your wind and the sea came over them: they went down like lead into the great waters.

¹¹Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? who is like you, in holy glory, to be praised with fear, doing wonders?

¹²When your right hand was stretched out, the mouth of the earth was open for them.

¹³In your mercy you went before the people whom you have made yours; guiding them in your strength to your holy place.

¹⁴Hearing of you the peoples were shaking in fear: the people of Philistia were gripped with pain.

¹⁵The chiefs of Edom were troubled in heart; the strong men of Moab were in the grip of fear: all the people of Canaan became like water.

¹⁶Fear and grief came on them; by the strength of your arm they were turned to stone; till your people went over, O Lord, till the people went over whom you have made yours.

¹⁷You will take them in, planting them in the mountain of your heritage, the place, O Lord, where you have made your house, the holy place, O Lord, the building of your hands.

¹⁸The Lord is King for ever and ever.

¹⁹For the horses of Pharaoh, with his war-carriages and his horsemen, went into the sea, and the Lord sent the waters of the sea back over them; but the children of Israel went through the sea on dry land.

²⁰And Miriam, the woman prophet, the sister of Aaron, took an instrument of music in her hand; and all the women went after her with music and dances.

²¹And Miriam, answering, said, Make a song to the Lord, for he is lifted up in glory; the horse and the horseman he has sent into the sea.

²²Then Moses took Israel forward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the waste land of Shur; and for three days they were in the waste land where there was no water.

²³And when they came to Marah, the water was no good for drinking, for the waters of Marah were bitter, which is why it was named Marah.

²⁴And the people, crying out against Moses, said, What are we to have for drink?

²⁵And in answer to his prayer, the Lord made him see a tree, and when he put it into the water, the water was made sweet. There he gave them a law and an order, testing them;

²⁶And he said, If with all your heart you will give attention to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his eyes, giving ear to his orders and keeping his laws, I will not put on you any of the diseases which I put on the Egyptians: for I am the Lord your life-giver.

²⁷And they came to Elim where there were twelve water-springs and seventy palm-trees: and they put up their tents there by the waters.

Exodus 16

¹And they went on their way from Elim, and all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they went out of the land of Egypt.

²And all the children of Israel were crying out against Moses and Aaron in the waste land:

³And the children of Israel said to them, It would have been better for the Lord to have put us to death in the land of Egypt, where we were seated by the flesh-pots and had bread enough for our needs; for you have taken us out to this waste of sand, to put all this people to death through need of food.

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, See, I will send down bread from heaven for you; and the people will go out every day and get enough for the day's needs; so that I may put them to the test to see if they will keep my laws or not.

⁵And on the sixth day they are to make ready what they get in, and it will be twice as much as they get on the other days.

⁶And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, This evening it will be clear to you that it is the Lord who has taken you out of the land of Egypt:

⁷And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord; for your angry words against the Lord have come to his ears: and what are we that you are crying out against us?

⁸And Moses said, The Lord will give you meat for your food at evening, and in the morning bread in full measure; for your outcry against the Lord has come to his ears: for what are we? your outcry is not against us but against the Lord.

⁹And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the people of Israel, Come near before the Lord for he has given ear to your outcry.

¹⁰And while Aaron was talking to the children of Israel, their eyes were turned in the direction of the waste land, and they saw the glory of the Lord shining in the cloud.

¹¹And the Lord said to Moses,

¹²The outcry of the children of Israel has come to my ears: say to them now, At nightfall you will have meat for your food, and in the morning bread in full measure; and you will see that I am the Lord your God.

¹³And it came about that in the evening little birds came up and the place was covered with them: and in the morning there was dew all round about the tents.

¹⁴And when the dew was gone, on the face of the earth was a small round thing, like small drops of ice on the earth.

¹⁵And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? for they had no idea what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which the Lord has given you for your food.

¹⁶This is what the Lord has said, Let every man take up as much as he has need of; at the rate of one omer for every person, let every man take as much as is needed for his family.

¹⁷And the children of Israel did so, and some took more and some less.

¹⁸And when it was measured, he who had taken up much had nothing over, and he who had little had enough; every man had taken what he was able to make use of.

¹⁹And Moses said to them, Let nothing be kept till the morning.

²⁰But they gave no attention to Moses, and some of them kept it till the morning and there were worms in it and it had an evil smell: and Moses was angry with them.

²¹And they took it up morning by morning, every man as he had need: and when the sun was high it was gone.

²²And on the sixth day they took up twice as much of the bread, two omers for every person: and all the rulers of the people gave Moses word of it.

²³And he said, This is what the Lord has said, Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord: what has to be cooked may be cooked; and what is over, put on one side to be kept till the morning.

²⁴And they kept it till the morning as Moses had said: and no smell came from it, and it had no worms.

²⁵And Moses said, Make your meal today of what you have, for this day is a Sabbath to the Lord: today you will not get any in the fields.

²⁶For six days you will get it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.

²⁷But still on the seventh day some of the people went out to get it, and there was not any.

²⁸And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you go against my orders and my laws?

²⁹See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, he gives you on the sixth day bread enough for two days; let every man keep where he is; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

³⁰So the people took their rest on the seventh day.

³¹And this bread was named manna by Israel: it was white, like a grain seed, and its taste was like cakes made with honey.

³²And Moses said, This is the order which the Lord has given: Let one omer of it be kept for future generations, so that they may see the bread which I gave you for your food in the waste land, when I took you out from the land of Egypt.

³³And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot and put one omer of manna in it, and put it away before the Lord, to be kept for future generations.

³⁴So Aaron put it away in front of the holy chest to be kept, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

³⁵And the children of Israel had manna for their food for forty years, till they came to a land with people in it, till they came to the edge of the land of Canaan.

³⁶Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.