Study Desk

The Lord said to Moses, "Go to the king of Egypt. I have made him and his officers stubborn so I could show them my powerful miracles.

No! Only the men may go and worship the Lord , which is what you have been asking for." Then the king forced Moses and Aaron out of his palace.

So Moses raised his walking stick over the land of Egypt, and the Lord caused a strong wind to blow from the east. It blew across the land all that day and night, and when morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts.

Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and total darkness was everywhere in Egypt for three days.

Every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die—from the firstborn son of the king, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl grinding grain. Also the firstborn farm animals will die.

Moses and Aaron did all these great miracles in front of the king. But the Lord made him stubborn, and the king would not let the Israelites leave his country.

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must get one lamb for the people in his house.

If there are not enough people in his house to eat a whole lamb, he must share it with his closest neighbor, considering the number of people. There must be enough lamb for everyone to eat.

The king, his officers, and all the Egyptians got up during the night because someone had died in every house. So there was a loud outcry everywhere in Egypt.

A foreigner who lives with you may share in the Lord 's Passover if all the males in his house become circumcised. Then, since he will be like a citizen of Israel, he may share in the meal. But a man who is not circumcised may not eat the Passover meal.

Moses said to the people, "Remember this day, the day you left Egypt. You were slaves in that land, but the Lord with his great power brought you out of it. You must not eat bread made with yeast.

This feast will help you remember, like a mark on your hand or a reminder on your forehead. This feast will remind you to speak the Lord 's teachings, because the Lord used his great power to bring you out of Egypt.

"From now on when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?' you will answer, ‘With his great power, the Lord brought us out from Egypt, the land where we were slaves.

This feast is like a mark on your hand and a reminder on your forehead to help you remember that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power."

I will make the king stubborn again so he will chase after them, but I will defeat the king and his army. This will bring honor to me, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord ." The Israelites did just as they were told.

When the king of Egypt was told that the Israelites had left, he and his officers changed their minds about them. They said, "What have we done? We have let the Israelites leave. We have lost our slaves!"

So the king prepared his war chariot and took his army with him.

He took six hundred of his best chariots, together with all the other chariots of Egypt, each with an officer in it.

When the Israelites saw the king and his army coming after them, they were very frightened and cried to the Lord for help.

I will make the Egyptians stubborn so they will chase the Israelites, but I will be honored when I defeat the king and all of his chariot drivers and chariots.