Study Desk

Moshe said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Yisra'el, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?"

They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the Zakenim of Yisra'el, to the king of Mitzrayim, and you shall tell him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD, our God.'

"That they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitzchak, and the God of Ya`akov, has appeared to you."

It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."

Moshe went and returned to Yitro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Mitzrayim, and see whether they are still alive." Yitro said to Moshe, "Go in shalom."

The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Yisra'el, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

Afterward Moshe and Aharon came, and said to Par`oh, "This is what the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, says, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'"

They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword."

The number of the bricks, which they made before, you require from them. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor therein; and don't let them pay any attention to lying words."

The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, This is what Par`oh says: "I will not give you straw.

No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick!' and, behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people."

They met Moshe and Aharon, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Par`oh:

and they said to them, "May the LORD look at you, and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Par`oh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us."

Moshe spoke so to the children of Yisra'el, but they didn't listen to Moshe for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

Moshe and Aharon did so. As the LORD commanded them, so they did.

Moshe was eighty years old, and Aharon eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Par`oh.

Moshe and Aharon went in to Par`oh, and they did so, as the LORD had commanded: and Aharon cast down his rod before Par`oh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

Then Par`oh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Mitzrayim, did in like manner with their enchantments.

For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aharon's rod swallowed up their rods.