Exodus 12–19: Named camps all the way, and a sea nobody can place
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Israel leaves Egypt at midnight and comes to Sinai on the third new moon, and almost every stage in between is a named camp — which is what makes the two blanks in the middle of it so conspicuous. The first leg is not in doubt: Rameses to Succoth, a Ramesside capital in the eastern delta to a mound at the western end of the Wadi Tumilat, about forty kilometres east. Nor is the road they did not take. Exodus 13:17 says God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, which was the coast road and the short way, because it ran past garrisons and the people would have turned back; that course is on this map as a course, dashed, going nowhere. After Succoth the ground gives way. Etham is a camp on the edge of the wilderness that five tells claim, and the leading one sits thirteen kilometres west of Succoth, which is the wrong direction. Then comes the camp itself — in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon — which Exodus 14:2 gives as one place with three landmarks and the atlases give as three places up to eighty-two kilometres apart, because each name's leading identification belongs to a different reconstruction of the whole route. The sea is worse: eight candidate waters, from Lake Manzala on the Mediterranean shore to the Gulf of Aqaba three hundred and eighty-six kilometres away, and the front-runner holds 293 of 778 votes. This map pins none of the four. It draws the two reconstructions as far as each takes the march, stops them at the water, and says on every card what the alternatives are. From Shur the sources close ranks again: Marah, Elim, the wilderness of Sin and Rephidim make one line down the west side of the peninsula, and the mountain at the end of it is Jebel Musa by a clear margin over thirteen rivals — a majority, not a settlement, and the note says which arguments it beat. Three names in the span are ground the map already holds under another name: Massah and Meribah are what Moses called Rephidim after the quarrel, Horeb is the mountain itself. And six places are named and never reached — the Philistine coast, the four peoples who hear about the sea in the Song and are afraid of it, Amalek who came down to Rephidim to fight, the Nile the staff had already struck, and Midian, which Jethro walks in from and goes home to.
Regions on this map
Exodus 12:29–42: the firstborn die at midnight, Pharaoh sends for Moses in the dark, and by morning the people are on the road. Egypt is a whole country here and the dot is the gazetteer's nominal point for it; the march itself starts from one town in the eastern delta.
Exodus 12:37–13:22: one agreed stage and one road refused. Rameses to Succoth is about forty kilometres east and nobody argues about it; the coast road to Philistia, which was the short way to Canaan, is drawn as the course they were not led along.
Exodus 14:1–31: the text gives one camp fixed by three landmarks and a sea it stands beside. The atlases give three places up to eighty-two kilometres apart and eight candidate waters, so this stage carries no pin at all — two proposed approaches, north and south, each stopping where the water starts.
Exodus 15:22–27: three days east of the sea with nothing to drink, then water at Marah they cannot swallow and twelve springs at Elim they can. The march is picked up again at Shur because Shur is the first ground after the crossing the sources agree on.
Exodus 16:1–18:27: down the west side of the peninsula by stages — the wilderness of Sin, where the manna starts, and Rephidim, where the water comes out of a rock, Amalek attacks the column and Jethro arrives with Moses' wife and sons.
Exodus 19:1–25: on the third new moon they set out from Rephidim and camp in front of it. Jebel Musa carries a clear majority of the sources over thirteen rivals, two of them other summits of the same massif; the pin marks where the weight sits, not a closed question.
Places the span names for reasons other than camping at them — the coast road God refused, the four peoples who hear about the sea in the Song and are afraid of it, the enemy who came down to Rephidim, the river the staff had already struck, and the country Moses' father-in-law walks in from.
Exodus 12–19, verse by verse
Exodus 12
- Exodus 12:1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of ,
- Exodus 12:2“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
- Exodus 12:3Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.
- Exodus 12:4And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
- Exodus 12:5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,
- Exodus 12:6and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
- Exodus 12:7“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
- Exodus 12:8They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
- Exodus 12:9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
- Exodus 12:10And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
- Exodus 12:11In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover.
- Exodus 12:12For I will pass through the land of that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of , both man and beast; and on all the gods of I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.
- Exodus 12:13The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of .
- Exodus 12:14“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
- Exodus 12:15Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
- Exodus 12:16On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.
- Exodus 12:17And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of . Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.
- Exodus 12:18In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
- Exodus 12:19For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.
- Exodus 12:20You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”
- Exodus 12:21Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.
- Exodus 12:22Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
- Exodus 12:23For the LORD will pass through to strike the , and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
- Exodus 12:24You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
- Exodus 12:25And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.
- Exodus 12:26And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
- Exodus 12:27you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in , when he struck the but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
- Exodus 12:28Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
- Exodus 12:29At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of , from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.
- Exodus 12:30And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the . And there was a great cry in , for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
- Exodus 12:31Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said.
- Exodus 12:32Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
- Exodus 12:33The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”
- Exodus 12:34So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
- Exodus 12:35The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
- Exodus 12:36And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the , so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the .
- Exodus 12:37And the people of Israel journeyed from to , about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
- Exodus 12:38A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
- Exodus 12:39And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of , for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
- Exodus 12:40The time that the people of Israel lived in was 430 years.
- Exodus 12:41At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of .
- Exodus 12:42It was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring them out of the land of ; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
- Exodus 12:43And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
- Exodus 12:44but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him.
- Exodus 12:45No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it.
- Exodus 12:46It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
- Exodus 12:47All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
- Exodus 12:48If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
- Exodus 12:49There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
- Exodus 12:50All the people of Israel did just as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.
- Exodus 12:51And on that very day the LORD brought the people of Israel out of the land of by their hosts.
Exodus 13
- Exodus 13:1The LORD said to Moses,
- Exodus 13:2“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.”
- Exodus 13:3Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from , out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
- Exodus 13:4Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.
- Exodus 13:5And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month.
- Exodus 13:6Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.
- Exodus 13:7Unleavened 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.
- Exodus 13:8You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of .’
- Exodus 13:9And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between 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 .
- Exodus 13:10You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
- Exodus 13:11“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you,
- Exodus 13:12you 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.
- Exodus 13:13Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.
- Exodus 13:14And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of , from the house of slavery.
- Exodus 13:15For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of , 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 all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’
- Exodus 13:16It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of .”
- Exodus 13:17When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to .”
- Exodus 13:18But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the . And the people of Israel went up out of the land of equipped for battle.
- Exodus 13:19Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.”
- Exodus 13:20And they moved on from and encamped at , on the edge of the wilderness.
- Exodus 13:21And the 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.
- Exodus 13:22The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
Exodus 14
- Exodus 14:1Then the LORD said to Moses,
- Exodus 14:2“Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of , between and the sea, in front of ; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.
- Exodus 14:3For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
- Exodus 14:4And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
- Exodus 14:5When the king of was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
- Exodus 14:6So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him,
- Exodus 14:7and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of with officers over all of them.
- Exodus 14:8And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of , and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.
- Exodus 14:9The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by , in front of .
- Exodus 14:10When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD.
- Exodus 14:11They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of ?
- Exodus 14:12Is not this what we said to you in : ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the ’? For it would have been better for us to serve the than to die in the wilderness.”
- Exodus 14:13And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
- Exodus 14:14The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
- Exodus 14:15The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.
- Exodus 14:16Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.
- Exodus 14:17And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
- Exodus 14:18And the shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
- Exodus 14:19Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,
- Exodus 14:20coming between the host of and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
- Exodus 14:21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
- Exodus 14:22And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
- Exodus 14:23The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
- Exodus 14:24And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,
- Exodus 14:25clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the .”
- Exodus 14:26Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”
- Exodus 14:27So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.
- Exodus 14:28The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.
- Exodus 14:29But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
- Exodus 14:30Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the , and Israel saw the dead on the seashore.
- Exodus 14:31Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the , so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.
Exodus 15
- Exodus 15:1Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
- Exodus 15:2The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
- Exodus 15:3The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
- Exodus 15:4“Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the .
- Exodus 15:5The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
- Exodus 15:6Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
- Exodus 15:7In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
- Exodus 15:8At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Exodus 15:9The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
- Exodus 15:10You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
- Exodus 15:11“Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
- Exodus 15:12You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
- Exodus 15:13“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
- Exodus 15:14The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of .
- Exodus 15:15Now are the chiefs of dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of ; all the inhabitants of have melted away.
- Exodus 15:16Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
- Exodus 15:17You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
- Exodus 15:18The LORD will reign forever and ever.”
- Exodus 15:19For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
- Exodus 15:20Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
- Exodus 15:21And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
- Exodus 15:22Then Moses made Israel set out from the , and they went into the wilderness of . They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
- Exodus 15:23When they came to , they could not drink the water of because it was bitter; therefore it was named .
- Exodus 15:24And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
- Exodus 15:25And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,
- Exodus 15:26saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the , for I am the LORD, your healer.”
- Exodus 15:27Then they came to , where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Exodus 16
- Exodus 16:1They set out from , and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of , which is between and , on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of .
- Exodus 16:2And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,
- Exodus 16:3and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of , when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
- Exodus 16:4Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
- Exodus 16:5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
- Exodus 16:6So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of ,
- Exodus 16:7and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?”
- Exodus 16:8And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him — what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”
- Exodus 16:9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
- Exodus 16:10And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
- Exodus 16:11And the LORD said to Moses,
- Exodus 16:12“I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”
- Exodus 16:13In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.
- Exodus 16:14And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.
- Exodus 16:15When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
- Exodus 16:16This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’”
- Exodus 16:17And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.
- Exodus 16:18But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.
- Exodus 16:19And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”
- Exodus 16:20But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
- Exodus 16:21Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
- Exodus 16:22On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,
- Exodus 16:23he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”
- Exodus 16:24So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.
- Exodus 16:25Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.
- Exodus 16:26Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”
- Exodus 16:27On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
- Exodus 16:28And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
- Exodus 16:29See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”
- Exodus 16:30So the people rested on the seventh day.
- Exodus 16:31Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
- Exodus 16:32Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of .’”
- Exodus 16:33And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.”
- Exodus 16:34As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.
- Exodus 16:35The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of .
- Exodus 16:36(An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)
Exodus 17
- Exodus 17:1All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at , but there was no water for the people to drink.
- Exodus 17:2Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”
- Exodus 17:3But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of , to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
- Exodus 17:4So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
- Exodus 17:5And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the , and go.
- Exodus 17:6Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at , and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
- Exodus 17:7And he called the name of the place and , because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
- Exodus 17:8Then came and fought with Israel at .
- Exodus 17:9So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with . Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
- Exodus 17:10So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with , while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
- Exodus 17:11Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, prevailed.
- Exodus 17:12But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
- Exodus 17:13And Joshua overwhelmed and his people with the sword.
- Exodus 17:14Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of from under heaven.”
- Exodus 17:15And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner,
- Exodus 17:16saying, “A hand upon the throne of the LORD! The LORD will have war with from generation to generation.”
Exodus 18
- Exodus 18:1Jethro, the priest of , Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of .
- Exodus 18:2Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home,
- Exodus 18:3along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”),
- Exodus 18:4and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”).
- Exodus 18:5Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God.
- Exodus 18:6And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,”
- Exodus 18:7Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.
- Exodus 18:8Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.
- Exodus 18:9And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the .
- Exodus 18:10Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the .
- Exodus 18:11Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.”
- Exodus 18:12And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
- Exodus 18:13The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.
- Exodus 18:14When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?”
- Exodus 18:15And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God;
- Exodus 18:16when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”
- Exodus 18:17Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.
- Exodus 18:18You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.
- Exodus 18:19Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,
- Exodus 18:20and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.
- Exodus 18:21Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
- Exodus 18:22And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
- Exodus 18:23If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”
- Exodus 18:24So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
- Exodus 18:25Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
- Exodus 18:26And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.
- Exodus 18:27Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.
Exodus 19
- Exodus 19:1On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of , on that day they came into the .
- Exodus 19:2They set out from and came into the , and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain,
- Exodus 19:3while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:
- Exodus 19:4‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the , and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
- Exodus 19:5Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
- Exodus 19:6and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
- Exodus 19:7So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.
- Exodus 19:8All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.
- Exodus 19:9And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD,
- Exodus 19:10the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments
- Exodus 19:11and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on in the sight of all the people.
- Exodus 19:12And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.
- Exodus 19:13No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”
- Exodus 19:14So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.
- Exodus 19:15And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”
- Exodus 19:16On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
- Exodus 19:17Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.
- Exodus 19:18Now was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.
- Exodus 19:19And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
- Exodus 19:20The LORD came down on , to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
- Exodus 19:21And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish.
- Exodus 19:22Also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.”
- Exodus 19:23And Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to , for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’”
- Exodus 19:24And the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them.”
- Exodus 19:25So Moses went down to the people and told them.