The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses vdelayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, w“Up, make us gods who shall xgo before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the yrings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 zAnd he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden1 calf. And they said, a“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron bmade a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And cthe people sat down to eat and drink and rose up dto play.

7 And the Lord said to Moses, e“Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have fcorrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that gI commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, hit is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore ilet me alone, that jmy wrath may burn hot against them and kI may consume them, in order that lI may make a great nation of you.”

11 But mMoses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 nWhy should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and orelent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you pswore by your own self, and said to them, q‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14 And the Lord rrelented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

15 Then sMoses turned and went down from the mountain with the ttwo tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. 16 uThe tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17 When vJoshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 But he said, “It is not the sound of wshouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 19 And as soon as he came near the camp and xsaw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and …

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like oGod to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your pprophet. 2 qYou shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But rI will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I smultiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians tshall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was ueighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, v‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the wmagicians of Egypt, also xdid the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still rPharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, ras the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15 yGo to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand zthe staff that turned into a aserpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The bLord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, cthat they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. 17 Thus says the Lord, “By this dyou shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and eit shall turn into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will fgrow weary of drinking water from the Nile.” ’ ” 19 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and gstretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ”

20 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he hlifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the iwater in the Nile turned into blood. 21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians jcould not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 22 But kthe magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So lPharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as mthe Lord had said. 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take

Consecration of the Firstborn

13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 o“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

3 Then Moses said to the people, p“Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, qfor by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. rNo leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 Today, in the month of sAbib, you are going out. 5 And when the Lord brings you into tthe land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which uhe swore to your fathers to give you, a land vflowing with milk and honey, wyou shall keep this service in this month. 6 xSeven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. 8 yYou shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 And it shall zbe to you as a sign on your hand and as aa memorial zbetween your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. 10 bYou shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

11 “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, cas he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12 dyou shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s. 13 eEvery firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every ffirstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 gAnd when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, h‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of islavery. 15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the jLord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but kall the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16 lIt shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for mby a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did nnot lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people ochange their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” 18 But God pled the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph1 had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, q“God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” 20 And rthey moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 And sthe Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of …