Study Desk

Zipporah said this because she had to circumcise her son. So God let Moses live.

The Lord had spoken to Aaron and told him, "Go out into the desert and meet Moses." So Aaron went and met Moses at the Mountain of God. He saw Moses and kissed him.

So Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the Israelites.

and they believed what they had heard. Then the Israelites understood that the Lord had seen their troubles and had come to help them. So they bowed down and worshiped God.

After Moses and Aaron talked to the people, they went to Pharaoh and said, "The Lord , the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go into the desert so that they can have a festival to honor me.'"

But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord ? Why should I obey him? Why should I let Israel go? I don't even know who this Lord is, so I refuse to let Israel go."

Then Aaron and Moses said, "The God of the Hebrews has talked with us. So we beg you to let us travel three days into the desert. There we will offer a sacrifice to the Lord our God. If we don't do this, he might become angry and destroy us. He might make us die from sickness or war."

So make these people work harder. Keep them busy. Then they will not have enough time to listen to the lies of Moses."

So the Egyptian slave masters and the Hebrew foremen went to the Israelites and said, "Pharaoh has decided that he will not give you straw for your bricks.

You must go and get the straw for yourselves. So go and find straw, but you must still make as many bricks as you made before."

So the people went everywhere in Egypt looking for straw.

So they said to Moses and Aaron, "May the Lord judge and punish you for what you did! You made Pharaoh and his rulers hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will use my great power against him, and he will let my people go. He will be so ready for them to leave that he will force them to go."

So tell the Israelites that I say to them, ‘I am the Lord . I will save you. You will no longer be slaves of the Egyptians. I will use my great power to make you free, and I will bring terrible punishment to the Egyptians.

I made a great promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I promised to give them a special land. So I will lead you to that land. I will give you that land. It will be yours. I am the Lord .'"

So Moses told this to the Israelites, but the people would not listen to him. They were working so hard that they were not patient with Moses.

But Moses answered, " Lord , the Israelites refuse to listen to me. So surely Pharaoh will also refuse to listen. I am a very bad speaker."

But I will make Pharaoh stubborn so that he will not do what you tell him. Then I will do many miracles in Egypt to prove who I am.

But he will still refuse to listen. So then I will punish Egypt very much. And I will lead my army, my people, out of that land.

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and obeyed the Lord . Aaron threw his walking stick down. While Pharaoh and his officers watched, the stick became a snake.