To The Word – Day 17

₁The LORD said, “I am going to make you like God to the king, and your brother Aaron will speak to him as your prophet. ₂Tell Aaron everything I command you, and he will tell the king to let the Israelites leave his country. _3-4But I will make the king stubborn, and he will not listen to you, no matter how many terrifying things I do in Egypt. Then I will bring severe punishment on Egypt and lead the tribes of my people out of the land. ₅The Egyptians will then know that I am the LORD, when I raise my hand against them and bring the Israelites out of their country.” ₆Moses and Aaron did what the LORD commanded. ₇At the time when they spoke to the king, Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was 83.

₈The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ₉“If the king demands that you prove yourselves by performing a miracle, tell Aaron to take his stick and throw it down in front of the king, and it will turn into a snake.” ₁₀So Moses and Aaron went to the king and did as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his stick down in front of the king and his officers, and it turned into a snake. ₁₁Then the king called for his wise men and magicians, and by their magic they did the same thing. ₁₂They threw down their sticks, and the sticks turned into snakes. But Aaron's stick swallowed theirs. ₁₃The king, however, remained stubborn and, just as the LORD had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

₁₄Then the LORD said to Moses, “The king is very stubborn and refuses to let the people go. ₁₅So go and meet him in the morning when he goes down to the Nile. Take with you the stick that was turned into a snake, and wait for him on the bank of the river. ₁₆Then say to the king, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to tell you to let his people go, so that they can worship him in the desert. But until now you have not listened. ₁₇Now, Your Majesty, the LORD says that you will find out who he is by what he is going to do. Look, I am going to strike the surface of the river with this stick, and the water will be turned into blood. ₁₈The fish will die, and the river will stink so much that the Egyptians will not be able to drink from it.’ ”

₁₉The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to take his stick and hold it out over all the rivers, canals, and pools in Egypt. The water will become blood, and all over the land there will be blood, even in the wooden tubs and stone jars.”

₂₀Then Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the presence of the king and his officers, Aaron raised his stick and struck the surface of the river, and all the water in it was turned into blood. ₂₁The fish in the river died, and it smelt so bad that the Egyptians could not drink from it. There was blood everywhere in Egypt. ₂₂Then the king's magicians did the same thing by means of their magic, and the king was as stubborn as ever. Just as the LORD had said, the king refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. ₂₃Instead, he turned and went back to his palace without paying any attention even to this. ₂₄All the Egyptians dug along the bank of the river for drinking water, because they were not able to drink water from the river.

₂₅Seven days passed after the LORD struck the river.

₁Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the king and tell him that the LORD says, ‘Let my people go, so that they can worship me. ₂If you refuse, I will punish your country by covering it with frogs. ₃The Nile will be so full of frogs that they will leave it and go into your palace, your bedroom, your bed, the houses of your officials and your people, and even into your ovens and baking pans. ₄They will jump up on you, your people, and all your officials.’ ”

₅The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to hold out his stick over the rivers, the canals, and the pools, and make frogs come up and cover the land of Egypt.” ₆So Aaron held it out over all the water, and the frogs came out and covered the land. ₇But the magicians used magic, and they too made frogs come up on the land.

₈The king called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the LORD to take away these frogs, and I will let your people go, so that they can offer sacrifices to the LORD.”

₉Moses replied, “I will be glad to pray for you. Just set the time when I am to pray for you, your officers, and your people. Then you will be rid of the frogs, and there will be none left except in the Nile.”

₁₀The king answered, “Pray for me tomorrow.”

Moses said, “I will do as you ask, and then you will know that there is no other god like the LORD, our God. ₁₁You, your officials, and your people will be rid of the frogs, and there will be none left except in the Nile.” ₁₂Then Moses and Aaron left the king, and Moses prayed to the LORD to take away the frogs which he had brought on the king. ₁₃The LORD did as Moses asked, and the frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died. ₁₄The Egyptians piled them up in great heaps, until the land stank with them. ₁₅When the king saw that the frogs were dead, he became stubborn again and, just as the LORD had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

₁₆The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to strike the ground with his stick, and all over the land of Egypt the dust will change into gnats.” ₁₇So Aaron struck the ground with his stick, and all the dust in Egypt was turned into gnats, which covered the people and the animals. ₁₈The magicians tried to use their magic to make gnats appear, but they failed. There were gnats everywhere, ₁₉and the magicians said to the king, “God has done this!” But the king was stubborn and, just as the LORD had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

₂₀The LORD said to Moses, “Early tomorrow morning go and meet the king as he goes to the river, and tell him that the LORD says, ‘Let my people go, so that they can worship me. ₂₁I warn you that if you refuse, I will punish you by sending flies on you, your officials, and your people. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and the ground will be covered with them. ₂₂But I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live, so that there will be no flies there. I will do this so that you will know that I, the LORD, am at work in this land. ₂₃I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This miracle will take place tomorrow.’ ” ₂₄The LORD sent great swarms of flies into the king's palace and the houses of his officials. The whole land of Egypt was brought to ruin by the flies.

₂₅Then the king called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go and offer sacrifices to your God here in this country.”

₂₆“It would not be right to do that,” Moses answered, “because the Egyptians would be offended by our sacrificing the animals that we offer to the LORD our God. If we use these animals and offend the Egyptians by sacrificing them where they can see us, they will stone us to death. ₂₇We must travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, just as he commanded us.”

₂₈The king said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the LORD, your God, in the desert, if you do not go very far. Pray for me.”

₂₉Moses answered, “As soon as I leave, I will pray to the LORD that tomorrow the flies will leave you, your officials, and your people. But you must not deceive us again and prevent the people from going to sacrifice to the LORD.”

₃₀Moses left the king and prayed to the LORD, ₃₁and the LORD did as Moses asked. The flies left the king, his officials, and his people; not one fly remained. ₃₂But even this time the king became stubborn, and again he would not let the people go.

₁The LORD said to Moses, “Go to the king and tell him that the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ₂If you again refuse to let them go, ₃I will punish you by sending a terrible disease on all your animals — your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats. ₄I will make a distinction between the animals of the Israelites and those of the Egyptians, and no animal that belongs to the Israelites will die. ₅I, the LORD, have set tomorrow as the time when I will do this.’ ”

₆The next day the LORD did as he had said, and all the animals of the Egyptians died, but not one of the animals of the Israelites died. ₇The king asked what had happened and was told that none of the animals of the Israelites had died. But he was stubborn and would not let the people go.

₈Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take a few handfuls of ashes from a furnace; Moses shall throw them into the air in front of the king. ₉They will spread out like fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and everywhere they will produce boils that become open sores on the people and the animals.” ₁₀So they got some ashes and stood before the king; Moses threw them into the air, and they produced boils that became open sores on the people and the animals. ₁₁The magicians were not able to appear before Moses, because they were covered with boils, like all the other Egyptians. ₁₂But the LORD made the king stubborn and, just as the LORD had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

₁₃The LORD then said to Moses, “Early tomorrow morning meet with the king and tell him that the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ₁₄This time I will punish not only your officials and your people, but I will punish you as well, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the world. ₁₅If I had raised my hand to strike you and your people with disease, you would have been completely destroyed. ₁₆But to show you my power I have let you live so that my fame might spread over the whole world. ₁₇Yet you are still arrogant and refuse to let my people go. ₁₈This time tomorrow I will cause a heavy hailstorm, such as Egypt has never known in all its history. ₁₉Now give orders for your livestock and everything else you have in the open to be put under shelter. Hail will fall on the people and animals left outside unprotected, and they will all die.’ ” ₂₀Some of the king's officials were afraid because of what the LORD had said, and they brought their slaves and animals indoors for shelter. ₂₁Others, however, paid no attention to the LORD's warning and left their slaves and animals out in the open.

₂₂Then the LORD said to Moses, “Raise your hand towards the sky, and hail will fall over the whole land of Egypt — on the people, the animals, and all the plants in the fields.” ₂₃So Moses raised his stick towards the sky, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the ground. The LORD sent ₂₄a heavy hailstorm, with lightning flashing to and fro. It was the worst storm that Egypt had ever known in all its history. ₂₅All over Egypt the hail struck down everything in the open, including all the people and all the animals. It beat down all the plants in the fields and broke all the trees. ₂₆The region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was the only place where there was no hail.

₂₇The king sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and my people and I are in the wrong. ₂₈Pray to the LORD! We have had enough of this thunder and hail! I promise to let you go; you don't have to stay here any longer.”

₂₉Moses said to him, “As soon as I go out of the city, I will lift up my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the LORD. ₃₀But I know that you and your officials do not yet fear the LORD God.”

₃₁The flax and the barley were ruined, because the barley was ripe, and the flax was budding. ₃₂But none of the wheat was ruined, because it ripens later.

₃₃Moses left the king, went out of the city, and lifted up his hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder, the hail, and the rain all stopped. ₃₄When the king saw what had happened, he sinned again. He and his officials remained as stubborn as ever ₃₅and, just as the LORD had foretold through Moses, the king would not let the Israelites go.

₁Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go and see the king. I have made him and his officials stubborn, in order that I may perform these miracles among them ₂and in order that you may be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I made fools of the Egyptians when I performed the miracles. All of you will know that I am the LORD.”

₃So Moses and Aaron went to the king and said to him, “The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says ‘How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ₄If you keep on refusing, then I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. ₅There will be so many that they will completely cover the ground. They will eat everything that the hail did not destroy, even the trees that are left. ₆They will fill your palaces and the houses of all your officials and all your people. They will be worse than anything your ancestors ever saw.’ ” Then Moses turned and left.

₇The king's officials said to him, “How long is this man going to give us trouble? Let the Israelite men go, so that they can worship the LORD their God. Don't you realize that Egypt is ruined?”

₈So Moses and Aaron were brought back to the king, and he said to them, “You may go and worship the LORD your God. But exactly who will go?”

₉Moses answered, “We will all go, including our children and our old people. We will take our sons and daughters, our sheep and goats, and our cattle, because we must hold a festival to honour the LORD.”

₁₀The king said, “I swear by the LORD that I will never let you take your women and children! It is clear that you are plotting to revolt. ₁₁No! Only the men may go and worship the LORD if that is what you want.” With that, Moses and Aaron were driven out of the king's presence.

₁₂Then the LORD said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts. They will come and eat everything that grows, everything that has survived the hail.” ₁₃So Moses raised his stick, and the LORD caused a wind from the east to blow on the land all that day and all that night. By morning it had brought the locusts. ₁₄They came in swarms and settled over the whole country. It was the largest swarm of locusts that had ever been seen or that ever would be seen again. ₁₅They covered the ground until it was black with them; they ate everything that the hail had left, including all the fruit on the trees. Not a green thing was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

₁₆Then the king hurriedly called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. ₁₇Now forgive my sin this once and pray to the LORD your God to take away this fatal punishment from me.” ₁₈Moses left the king and prayed to the LORD. ₁₉And the LORD changed the east wind into a very strong west wind, which picked up the locusts and blew them into the Gulf of Suez. Not one locust was left in all Egypt. ₂₀But the LORD made the king stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites go.

₂₁The LORD then said to Moses, “Raise your hand towards the sky, and a darkness thick enough to be felt will cover the land of Egypt.” ₂₂Moses raised his hand towards the sky, and there was total darkness throughout Egypt for three days. ₂₃The Egyptians could not see each other, and no one left his house during that time. But the Israelites had light where they were living.

₂₄The king called Moses and said, “You may go and worship the LORD; even your women and children may go with you. But your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay here.”

₂₅Moses answered, “Then you would have to provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to the LORD our God. ₂₆No, we will take our animals with us; not one will be left behind. We ourselves must select the animals with which to worship the LORD our God. And until we get there, we will not know what animals to sacrifice to him.”

₂₇The LORD made the king stubborn, and he would not let them go. ₂₈He said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Don't let me ever see you again! On the day I do, you will die!”

₂₉“You are right,” Moses answered. “You will never see me again.”

₁Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will send only one more punishment on the king of Egypt and his people. After that he will let you leave. In fact, he will drive all of you out of here. ₂Now speak to the people of Israel and tell all of them to ask their neighbours for gold and silver jewellery.” ₃The LORD made the Egyptians respect the Israelites. Indeed, the officials and all the people considered Moses to be a very great man.

₄Moses then said to the king, “The LORD says, ‘At about midnight I will go through Egypt, ₅and every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the king's son, who is heir to the throne, to the son of the slave woman who grinds corn. The firstborn of all the cattle will die also. ₆There will be loud crying all over Egypt, such as there has never been before or ever will be again. ₇But not even a dog will bark at the Israelites or their animals. Then you will know that I, the LORD, make a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites.’ ” ₈Moses concluded by saying, “All your officials will come to me and bow down before me, and they will beg me to take all my people and go away. After that, I will leave.” Then in great anger Moses left the king.

₉The LORD had said to Moses, “The king will continue to refuse to listen to you, in order that I may do more of my miracles in Egypt.” ₁₀Moses and Aaron performed all these miracles before the king, but the LORD made him stubborn, and he would not let the Israelites leave his country.

₁The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in Egypt: ₂“This month is to be the first month of the year for you. ₃Give these instructions to the whole community of Israel: on the tenth day of this month each man must choose either a lamb or a young goat for his household. ₄If his family is too small to eat a whole animal, he and his next-door neighbour may share an animal, in proportion to the number of people and the amount that each person can eat. ₅You may choose either a sheep or a goat, but it must be a one-year-old male without any defects. ₆Then, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, the whole community of Israel will kill the animals. ₇The people are to take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and above the doors of the houses in which the animals are to be eaten. ₈That night the meat is to be roasted, and eaten with bitter herbs and with bread made without yeast. ₉Do not eat any of it raw or boiled, but eat it roasted whole, including the head, the legs, and the internal organs. ₁₀You must not leave any of it until morning; if any is left over, it must be burnt. ₁₁You are to eat it quickly, for you are to be dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your stick in your hand. It is the Passover Festival to honour me, the LORD.

₁₂“On that night I will go through the land of Egypt, killing every firstborn male, both human and animal, and punishing all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. ₁₃The blood on the doorposts will be a sign to mark the houses in which you live. When I see the blood, I will pass over you and will not harm you when I punish the Egyptians. ₁₄You must celebrate this day as a religious festival to remind you of what I, the LORD, have done. Celebrate it for all time to come.”

₁₅The LORD said, “For seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast — eat only unleavened bread. On the first day you are to get rid of all the yeast in your houses, for if anyone during those seven days eats bread made with yeast, he shall no longer be considered one of my people. ₁₆On the first day and again on the seventh day you are to meet for worship. No work is to be done on those days, but you may prepare food. ₁₇Keep this festival, because it was on this day that I brought your tribes out of Egypt. For all time to come you must celebrate this day as a festival. ₁₈From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month to the evening of the 21st day, you must not eat any bread made with yeast. _19-20For seven days no yeast must be found in your houses, for if anyone, native-born or foreign, eats bread made with yeast, he shall no longer be considered one of my people.”

₂₁Moses called for all the leaders of Israel and said to them, “Each of you is to choose a lamb or a young goat and kill it, so that your families can celebrate Passover. ₂₂Take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the bowl containing the animal's blood, and wipe the blood on the doorposts and the beam above the door of your house. Not one of you is to leave the house until morning. ₂₃When the LORD goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the beams and the doorposts and will not let the Angel of Death enter your houses and kill you. ₂₄You and your children must obey these rules for ever. ₂₅When you enter the land that the LORD has promised to give you, you must perform this ritual. ₂₆When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ ₂₇you will answer, ‘It is the sacrifice of Passover to honour the LORD, because he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. He killed the Egyptians, but spared us.’ ”

The Israelites knelt down and worshipped. ₂₈Then they went and did what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

₂₉At midnight the LORD killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt, from the king's son, who was heir to the throne, to the son of the prisoner in the dungeon; all the firstborn of the animals were also killed. ₃₀That night, the king, his officials, and all the other Egyptians were awakened. There was loud crying throughout Egypt, because there was not one home in which there was not a dead son. ₃₁That same night the king sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “Get out, you and your Israelites! Leave my country; go and worship the LORD, as you asked. ₃₂Take your sheep, goats, and cattle, and leave. Also pray for a blessing on me.”

₃₃The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country; they said, “We will all be dead if you don't leave.” ₃₄So the people filled their baking pans with unleavened dough, wrapped them in clothing, and carried them on their shoulders. ₃₅The Israelites had done as Moses had said, and had asked the Egyptians for gold and silver jewellery and for clothing. ₃₆The LORD made the Egyptians respect the people and give them what they asked for. In this way the Israelites carried away the wealth of the Egyptians.

₃₇The Israelites set out on foot from Rameses for Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men, not counting women and children. ₃₈A large number of other people and many sheep, goats, and cattle also went with them. ₃₉They baked unleavened bread from the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for they had been driven out of Egypt so suddenly that they did not have time to get their food ready or to prepare leavened dough.

₄₀The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. ₄₁On the day the 430 years ended, all the tribes of the LORD's people left Egypt. ₄₂It was a night when the LORD kept watch to bring them out of Egypt; this same night is dedicated to the LORD for all time to come as a night when the Israelites must keep watch.

₄₃The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the Passover regulations: no foreigner shall eat the Passover meal, ₄₄but any slave that you have bought may eat it if you circumcise him first. ₄₅No temporary resident or hired worker may eat it. ₄₆The whole meal must be eaten in the house in which it was prepared; it must not be taken outside. And do not break any of the animal's bones. ₄₇The whole community of Israel must celebrate this festival, ₄₈but no uncircumcised man may eat it. If a foreigner has settled among you and wants to celebrate Passover to honour the LORD, you must first circumcise all the males of his household. He is then to be treated like a native-born Israelite and may join in the festival. ₄₉The same regulations apply to native-born Israelites and to foreigners who settle among you.” ₅₀All the Israelites obeyed and did what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. ₅₁On that day the LORD brought the Israelite tribes out of Egypt.

₁The LORD said to Moses, ₂“Dedicate all the firstborn males to me, for every firstborn male Israelite and every firstborn male animal belongs to me.”

₃Moses said to the people, “Remember this day — the day on which you left Egypt, the place where you were slaves. This is the day the LORD brought you out by his great power. No leavened bread is to be eaten. ₄You are leaving Egypt on this day in the first month, the month of Abib. ₅The LORD solemnly promised your ancestors to give you the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. When he brings you into that rich and fertile land, you must celebrate this festival in the first month of every year. ₆For seven days you must eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to honour the LORD. ₇For seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast; there must be no yeast or leavened bread anywhere in your land. ₈When the festival begins, explain to your sons that you do all this because of what the LORD did for you when you left Egypt. ₉This observance will be a reminder, like something tied on your hand or on your forehead; it will remind you to continue to recite and study the Law of the LORD, because the LORD brought you out of Egypt by his great power. ₁₀Celebrate this festival at the appointed time each year.

₁₁“The LORD will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, which he solemnly promised to you and your ancestors. When he gives it to you, ₁₂you must offer every firstborn male to the LORD. Every firstborn male of your animals belongs to the LORD, ₁₃but you must buy back from him every firstborn male donkey by offering a lamb in its place. If you do not want to buy back the donkey, break its neck. You must buy back every firstborn male child of yours. ₁₄In the future, when your son asks what this observance means, you will answer him, ‘By using great power the LORD brought us out of Egypt, the place where we were slaves. ₁₅When the king of Egypt was stubborn and refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. That is why we sacrifice every firstborn male animal to the LORD, but buy back our firstborn sons. ₁₆This observance will be a reminder, like something tied on our hands or on our foreheads; it will remind us that the LORD brought us out of Egypt by his great power.’ ”

₁₇When the king of Egypt let the people go, God did not take them by the road that goes up the coast to Philistia, although it was the shortest way. God thought, “I do not want the people to change their minds and return to Egypt when they see that they are going to have to fight.” ₁₈Instead, he led them in a roundabout way through the desert towards the Red Sea. The Israelites were armed for battle.

₁₉Moses took the body of Joseph with him, as Joseph had made the Israelites solemnly promise to do. Joseph had said, “When God rescues you, you must carry my body with you from this place.”

₂₀The Israelites left Sukkoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. ₂₁During the day the LORD went in front of them in a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and during the night he went in front of them in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel night and day. ₂₂The pillar of cloud was always in front of the people during the day, and the pillar of fire at night.