LXX Concordance for τῆς

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons[fn] and for days and years.

Then God said, “Let the water swarm with[fn] living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”

God blessed them: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

no shrub of the field had yet grown on the land,[fn] and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.

The LORD God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Gold from that land is pure;[fn] bdellium[fn] and onyx[fn] are also there.

The LORD God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

And the man said:

This one, at last, is bone of my bone

and flesh of my flesh;

this one will be called “woman,”

for she was taken from man.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can't eat from any tree in the garden'? ”

So the LORD God said to the serpent:

Because you have done this,

you are cursed more than any livestock

and more than any wild animal.

You will move on your belly

and eat dust all the days of your life.

And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it':

The ground is cursed because of you.

You will eat from it by means of painful labor[fn]

all the days of your life.

The man named his wife Eve[fn] because she was the mother of all the living.

The LORD God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”

In the course of time Cain presented some of the land's produce as an offering to the LORD.

Then he said, “What have you done? Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground!

“Since you are banishing me today from the face of the earth, and I must hide from your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.”

Lamech said to his wives:

Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words.

For I killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for striking me.

And he named him Noah,[fn] saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them,

The Nephilim[fn] were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men.

God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth.

“This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.[fn]

“Two of everything ​— ​from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds ​— ​will come to you so that you can keep them alive.

“Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing I have made I will wipe off the face of the earth.”

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came and water covered the earth.

From the animals that are clean, and from the animals that are not clean, and from the birds and every creature that crawls on the ground,

Seven days later the floodwaters came on the earth.

They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, all the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, every flying creature ​— ​all the birds and every winged creature ​— ​according to their kinds.

The flood continued for forty days on the earth; the water increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth.

Every creature perished ​— ​those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind.

The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped.

After forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made,

In the six hundred first year,[fn] in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water that had covered the earth was dried up. Then Noah removed the ark's cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying.

“Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives with you.

All the animals, all the creatures that crawl, and all the flying creatures ​— ​everything that moves on the earth ​— ​came out of the ark by their families.

“As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, and day and night

will not cease.”

“The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority.

“and with every living creature that is with you ​— ​birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you ​— ​all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark.

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations:

“I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature.

Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land.

His kingdom started with Babylon, Erech,[fn] Accad,[fn] and Calneh,[fn] in the land of Shinar.[fn]

These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their family records, in their nations. The nations on earth spread out from these after the flood.

And they said, “Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let's make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”

So from there the LORD scattered them throughout the earth, and they stopped building the city.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

The LORD said to Abram:

Go from your land,

your relatives,

and your father's house

to the land that I will show you.

I will bless those who bless you,

I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,

and all the peoples on earth

will be blessed[fn] through you.[fn]

There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.

But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram's wife, Sarai.

“I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.

and the Horites in the mountains of Seir, as far as El-paran by the wilderness.

After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King's Valley).

“I will take nothing except what the servants have eaten. But as for the share of the men who came with me ​— ​Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre ​— ​they can take their share.”

But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? ”[fn]

Sarai said to Abram, “Since the LORD has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.

“You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.[fn]

So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased ​— ​every male among the members of Abraham's household ​— ​and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.

The LORD appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day.

The LORD said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year's time, and your wife Sarah will have a son! ” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.

“Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.

Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.

They struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with blindness[fn] so that they were unable to find the entrance.

At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment[fn] of the city.”

“Hurry up! Run to it, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.[fn]

He demolished these cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground.

He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw that smoke was going up from the land like the smoke of a furnace.

Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us as is the custom of all the land.

The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab.[fn] He is the father of the Moabites of today.

Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.'

for the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech's household on account of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

But Sarah saw the son mocking ​— ​the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed[fn] about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac,

God heard the boy crying, and the[fn] angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is.

At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.

After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you.”

“I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their[fn] enemies.

Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hethites, the people of the land.

Abraham bowed down to the people of the land

Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,

“The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring'[fn] ​— ​he will send his angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

At evening, the time when women went out to draw water, he made the camels kneel beside a well outside the town.

“I am standing here at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water.

Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah ​— ​daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor ​— ​coming with a jug on her shoulder.

Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jug.”

The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things.

As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah's words ​— ​“The man said this to me! ” ​— ​he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.

“He said to me, ‘The LORD before whom I have walked will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father's family.

“I am standing here at a spring. Let the young woman[fn] who comes out to draw water, and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jug,'

Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi,[fn] for he was living in the Negev region.

Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother's death.

After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

This is the length[fn] of Ishmael's life: 137 years. He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people.

Isaac was forty years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

And the LORD said to her:

Two nations are in your womb;

two peoples will come from you and be separated.

One people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.

After this, his brother came out grasping Esau's heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob.[fn] Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham's time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

“I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed[fn] by your offspring,

When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.”

Then Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”

He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth[fn] and said, “For now the LORD has made space for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.

He called it Sheba.[fn] Therefore the name of the city is still Beer-sheba[fn] today.

He said, “Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death.

His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.”

Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.”

Then he said, “Bring it closer to me, and let me eat some of my son's game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it closer to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.

May God give to you —

from the dew of the sky

and from the richness of the land —

an abundance of grain and new wine.

As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from his hunting.

His father Isaac answered him,

Look, your dwelling place will be

away from the richness of the land,

away from the dew of the sky above.

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

“So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,

So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I'm sick of my life because of these Hethite girls. If Jacob marries someone from around here,[fn] like these Hethite girls, what good is my life? ”

“Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

“May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram.

“Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban's daughter Rachel with his sheep,[fn] he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban's sheep.

When Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.

Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I'll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

“Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.”

Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, he has heard me and given me a son,” so she named him Dan.[fn]

Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb.

“I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.' ”

Now Rachel had taken Laban's household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.

“There I was ​— ​the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed.[fn]

Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,'

“You have said, ‘I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to be counted.' ”

That is why, still today, the Israelites don't eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because he struck Jacob's hip socket at the thigh muscle.[fn]

“Let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a pace suited to the livestock and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

After Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at Shechem in the land of Canaan and camped in front of the city.

When Shechem ​— ​son of Hamor the Hivite, who was the region's chieftain ​— ​saw her, he took her and raped her.

Jacob's sons returned from the field when they heard about the incident. They were deeply grieved and very angry, for Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by raping Jacob's daughter, and such a thing should not be done.

So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city.

All the men who had come to the city gates listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all those men were circumcised.

Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem.

God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.

God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you.[fn]

Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel's grave still today.

While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

The sons of Leah's slave Zilpah

were Gad and Asher.

These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

For their possessions were too many for them to live together, and because of their herds, the land where they stayed could not support them.

When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.

When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates River reigned in his place.

chief Magdiel, and chief Iram.

These are Edom's chiefs,

according to their settlements in the land they possessed.

Esau[fn] was father of the Edomites.

Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

So she took off her widow's clothes, veiled her face, covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow's clothes back on.

When his master heard the story his wife told him ​— ​“These are the things your slave did to me” ​— ​he was furious

“In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand the way you used to when you were his cupbearer.

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head.

On the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he gave a feast for all his servants. He elevated[fn] the chief cupbearer and the chief baker among his servants.

“After them, seven years of famine will take place, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land.

“Let Pharaoh do this: Let him appoint overseers over the land and take a fifth of the harvest of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck.

During the seven years of abundance the land produced outstanding harvests.

Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,

Now the famine had spread across the whole region, so Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the weakness[fn] of the land.”

“No,” he said to them. “You have come to see the weakness of the land.”

“If you are honest, let one of you[fn] be confined to the guardhouse, while the rest of you go and take grain to relieve the hunger of your households.

Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us.”

“The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.

“The man who is the lord of the country said to us, ‘This is how I will know if you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go.

Now the famine in the land was severe.

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and take them down to the man as a gift ​— ​a little balsam and a little honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, “Take the men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they will eat with me at noon.”

Joseph commanded his steward, “Fill the men's bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each one's silver at the top of his bag.

They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?

“So if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us ​— ​his life is wrapped up with the boy's life ​— ​

“For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.

“Get your father and your families, and come back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you can eat from the richness of the land.'

That night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob! ” he said.

And Jacob replied, “Here I am.”

Simeon's sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

These were Leah's sons born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, as well as his daughter Dinah. The total number of persons:[fn] thirty-three.

Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived? ”

The only land he did not acquire belonged to the priests, for they had an allowance from Pharaoh. They ate from their allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

So Joseph made it a law, still in effect today in the land of Egypt, that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land does not belong to Pharaoh.

And Jacob said, “Swear to me.” So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed in thanks at the head of his bed.[fn]

“When I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way, some distance from Ephrath in the land of Canaan. I buried her there along the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

Then Joseph took them from his father's knees and bowed with his face to the ground.

Then he blessed Joseph and said:

The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,

the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

“He ties his donkey to a vine,

and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.

He washes his clothes in wine

and his robes in the blood of grapes.

They took forty days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him,

When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim.[fn] It is across the Jordan.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

“Come, let's deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives ​— ​the first, whose name was Shiphrah, and the second, whose name was Puah ​— ​

Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings,

“And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites ​— ​a land flowing with milk and honey.

Moses answered, “What if they won't believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you'? ”

The LORD told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand.

“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.

So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son's foreskin, threw it at Moses's feet, and said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me! ”

But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the LORD that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don't know[fn] the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

“But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers ​— ​that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

“Go get straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but there will be no reduction at all in your workload.' ”

Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh's slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven't you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before? ”

“Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks.”

But the LORD replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”

“Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.

“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go from his land.”

The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin,

Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

These are the clans of Simeon.

The sons of Kohath:

Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

Kohath lived 133 years.

Amram married his father's sister Jochebed,

and she bore him Aaron and Moses.

Amram lived 137 years.

“You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it will become gnats[fn] throughout the land of Egypt.”

“But if you will not let my people go, then I will send swarms of flies[fn] against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians' houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live.[fn]

And the LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land.”

So they took furnace soot and stood before Pharaoh. Moses threw it toward heaven, and it became festering boils on people and animals.

“By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth.

“Tomorrow at this time I will rain down the worst hail that has ever occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt ​— ​on people and animals and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.”

Moses left Pharaoh and the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. Then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured down on the land.

“They will cover the surface of the land so that no one will be able to see the land. They will eat the remainder left to you that escaped the hail; they will eat every tree you have growing in the fields.

The LORD then said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, and the locusts will come up over it and eat every plant in the land, everything that the hail left.”

They covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or the plants in the field throughout the land of Egypt.

One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.

“Now announce to the people that both men and women should ask their neighbors for silver and gold items.”

“and every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is at the grindstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock.

“You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.

“You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel.

“Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a resident alien or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel.

“Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning.

Now at midnight the LORD struck every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock.

Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We're all going to die! ”

The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand able-bodied men on foot, besides their families.

“It is to be eaten in one house. You may not take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of its bones.

“If an alien resides among you and wants to observe the LORD's Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate;[fn] he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it.

“Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead,[fn] so that the LORD's instruction may be in your mouth; for the LORD brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand.

“So let it be a sign on your hand and a symbol[fn] on your forehead, for the LORD brought us out of Egypt by the strength of his hand.”

The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.

“Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.

The Egyptians ​— ​all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, his horsemen,[fn] and his army ​— ​chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

“As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them.

and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the LORD threw them into the sea.

But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

You overthrew your adversaries

by your great majesty.

You unleashed your burning wrath;

it consumed them like stubble.

When Pharaoh's horses with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the water of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

He said, “If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

So at evening quail came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp.

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts[fn] apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.

The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan.

The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the LORD's command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

“I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God's staff in my hand.”

The LORD then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.”

Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

In the third month from the very day the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they came to the Sinai Wilderness.

“Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine,

On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram's horn, so that all the people in the camp shuddered.

As the sound of the ram's horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

All the people witnessed[fn] the thunder and lightning, the sound of the ram's horn, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it[fn] they trembled and stood at a distance.

“if he can later get up and walk around outside leaning on his staff, then the one who struck him will be exempt from punishment. Nevertheless, he must pay for his lost work time[fn] and provide for his complete recovery.

“When men get in a fight and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman's husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment.

“When a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his eye.

“However, if the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned, and its owner must also be put to death.

“If, however, it is known that the ox was in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not restrained it, he must compensate fully, ox for ox; the dead animal will become his.

“When a man gives his neighbor valuables[fn] or goods to keep, but they are stolen from that person's house, the thief, if caught, must repay double.

“there must be an oath before the LORD between the two of them to determine whether or not he has taken his neighbor's property. Its owner must accept the oath, and the other man does not have to make restitution.

“If you do mistreat them, they will no doubt cry to me, and I will certainly hear their cry.

“Do your work for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the resident alien may be refreshed.

“You must not offer the blood of my sacrifices with anything leavened. The fat of my festival offering must not remain until morning.

“But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

“No woman will miscarry or be childless in your land. I will give you the full number of your days.

“I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year; otherwise, the land would become desolate, and wild animals would multiply against you.

“I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,[fn] and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River.[fn] For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.

He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey all that the LORD has commanded.”

The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud.

“You must make it according to all that I show you ​— ​the pattern of the tabernacle as well as the pattern of all its furnishings.

“Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark with them.

“I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony; I will speak with you from there about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.

“Six branches are to extend from its sides, three branches of the lampstand from one side and three branches of the lampstand from the other side.

“For the six branches that extend from the lampstand, a bud must be under the first pair of branches from it, a bud under the second pair of branches from it, and a bud under the third pair of branches from it.

“Each curtain should be forty-two feet[fn] long and six feet[fn] wide; all the curtains are to have the same measurements.

“You are to make curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle; make eleven of these curtains.

“As for the flap that remains from the tent curtains, the leftover half curtain is to hang over the back of the tabernacle.

“Each support will have two tenons for joining. Do the same for all the supports of the tabernacle.

“and make six supports for the west side of the tabernacle.

“You are to make five crossbars of acacia wood for the supports on one side of the tabernacle,

“Place the table outside the curtain and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle, opposite the table; put the table on the north side.

“You are to make the courtyard for the tabernacle. Make hangings for the south side of the courtyard out of finely spun linen, 150 feet[fn] long on that side

“For the width of the courtyard, make hangings 75 feet[fn] long for the west side, including their ten posts and their ten bases.

“The gate of the courtyard is to have a 30-foot[fn] screen embroidered[fn] with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It is to have four posts and their four bases.

“In the tent of meeting outside the curtain that is in front of the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamp from evening until morning before the LORD. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites throughout their generations.

“Fasten both stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the Israelites. Aaron will carry their names on his two shoulders before the LORD as a reminder.

“You are to make an embroidered breastpiece for making decisions.[fn] Make it with the same workmanship as the ephod; make it of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and of finely spun linen.

“Fashion two gold rings for the breastpiece and attach them to its two corners.

“Whenever he enters the sanctuary, Aaron is to carry the names of Israel's sons over his heart on the breastpiece for decisions, as a continual reminder before the LORD.

“Fasten it to a cord of blue yarn so it can be placed on the turban; the medallion is to be on the front of the turban.

“Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water.

“You are to bring the bull to the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the bull's head.

“Take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar.

“Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on Aaron's right earlobe, on his sons' right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the remaining blood on all sides of the altar.

“Take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before the LORD; it is a food offering to the LORD.

“You are to take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place.

“If any of the meat of ordination or any of the bread is left until morning, burn what is left over. It must not be eaten because it is holy.

“Sacrifice a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement. Purify[fn] the altar when you make atonement for it, and anoint it in order to consecrate it.

“This will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you[fn] to speak with you.

“You are to place the altar in front of the curtain by the ark of the testimony ​— ​in front of the mercy seat that is over the testimony ​— ​where I will meet with you.

“When you take a census of the Israelites to register them, each of the men must pay a ransom for his life to the LORD as they are registered. Then no plague will come on them as they are registered.

“Take the atonement price[fn] from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will serve as a reminder for the Israelites before the LORD to atone for your lives.”

“Make a bronze basin for washing and a bronze stand for it. Set it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.

“Look, I have appointed by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

“the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the mercy seat that is on top of it, and all the other furnishings of the tent ​— ​

“the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. They must make them according to all that I have commanded you.”

“They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them; they have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, ‘Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.' ”

“Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and eliminate them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for your people.

So the LORD relented concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.

And Moses stood at the camp's entrance and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered around him.

The following day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a grave sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin.”

“Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book you have written.”

And the LORD inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

Now Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a distance from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who wanted to consult the LORD would go to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp.

“How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.”

The LORD said, “Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock,

“Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you.

“Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.

“For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory. No one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD your God.

Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.

But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them.

“the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and bases, and the screen for the gate of the courtyard;

“and the specially woven[fn] garments for ministering in the sanctuary ​— ​the holy garments for the priest Aaron and the garments for his sons to serve as priests.”

Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments.

Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to the LORD. Everyone who possessed acacia wood useful for any task in the work brought it.

The leaders brought onyx and gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece,

“to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze,

Each curtain was forty-two feet[fn] long and six feet[fn] wide; all the curtains had the same measurements.

He overlaid them with gold and made their rings out of gold as holders for the crossbars. He also overlaid the crossbars with gold.

He made a screen embroidered[fn] with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen for the entrance to the tent,

He made a mercy seat of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide.[fn]

He made the poles for carrying the table from acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

For the six branches that extended from it, a bud was under the first pair of branches from it, a bud under the second pair of branches from it, and a bud under the third pair of branches from it.

He also made the holy anointing oil and the pure, fragrant, and expertly blended incense.

Bezalel constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, 7½ feet long and 7½ feet wide,[fn] and was 4½ feet[fn] high.

He made the bronze basin and its stand from the bronze mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

It was the same for the other side of the courtyard gate. The hangings were 22½ feet, including their three posts and their three bases.

All the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the surrounding courtyard were bronze.

With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, a gem cutter, a designer, and an embroiderer with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.

There were 7,500 pounds[fn] of silver used to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the curtain ​— ​one hundred bases from 7,500 pounds, 75 pounds[fn] for each base.