Daily Bible Reading | Exodus 5-7

Moses and Aaron Confront Pharaoh

And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said, Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go?

I do not know Yahweh, and also I will not let Israel go. Then they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he confront us with pestilence or with the sword.

But the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your hard labors. And Pharaoh said, Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their hard labors.

So on that day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying, You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.

But the quota of bricks which they were making previously you shall set upon them. You are not to reduce any of it, because they are lazy, therefore they are crying out, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

Let their slavery be hard on the men, and let them work at it, so that they will have no regard for false words. So the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, Thus says Pharaoh, I am not going to give you any straw.

You go and get straw for yourselves, wherever you can find it, but no amount of your slave labor will be reduced. So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. And the taskmasters were pressing them, saying, Complete your work quota the daily amount, just as when there was straw.

Moreover the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, Why have you not completed your required amount, either yesterday or today, in making brick as previously?

Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, Why do you deal this way with your slaves? There is no straw given to your slaves, yet they keep saying to us, Make bricks, and behold your slaves are being beaten, but it is the sin of your own people.

But he said, You are lazy, lazy, therefore you say, Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh. So now go and labor, but straw will not be given to you, yet you must deliver the quota of bricks. Then the foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, because they were told, You must not reduce your daily amount of bricks.

When they left Pharaoh's presence, they confronted Moses and Aaron, standing there to meet them. And they said to them, May Yahweh look upon you and judge, for you have made us a foul smell in Pharaoh's sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.

Moses Laments the Burden of His Mission

Then Moses returned to Yahweh and said, O Lord, why have you brought harm to this people? Why did you ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done harm to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he will let them go, and by a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. God spoke further to Moses and said to him, I am Yahweh, and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.

And I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in slavery, and I have remembered my covenant.

Say therefore to the sons of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their slavery. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

Then I will take you for my people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession.

I am Yahweh. So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their weakness of spirit and hard slavery. Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Come, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

But Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me. How then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips? Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a command for the sons of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Genealogy of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi

These are the heads of their fathers' households. The sons of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, Hanak and Palu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. The sons of Simeon, Jemuel and Jaman, and Ohad and Jacob and Zohar and Shaul, the son of the Canaanite woman.

These are the families of Simeon. These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations. Gershon and Kohath and Merari, and the years of Levi's life were 137 years. The sons of Gershon, Libnai and Shemiai according to their families.

The sons of Kohath, Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uziel, and the years of Kohath's life were 133 years. The sons of Merari, Malai and Mushai, these are the families of the Levites according to their generations.

And Amram took his father's sister Jochbed as a wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, and the years of Amram's life were 137 years. The sons of Izhar, Korah and Nepheg and Zichri, the sons of Uziel, Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri.

And Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nashon, as a wife, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. The sons of Korah, Asir and Elkanah and Abiasaph, these are the families of the Korahites.

And Aaron's son Eleazar took one of the daughters of Putiel as a wife, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the father's households of the Levites, according to their families. It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, according to their hosts.

They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron. Now it happened on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, I am Yahweh.

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh with Signs and Wonders

Speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I am speaking to you. But Moses said before Yahweh, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How then will Pharaoh listen to me? Then Yahweh said to Moses, See, I set you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.

You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart with stiffness, that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will set my hand upon Egypt and bring out my hosts, my people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.

So Moses and Aaron did it. As Yahweh commanded them, thus they did. Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, Work a miraculous wonder, then you shall say to Aaron, Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as Yahweh had commanded. And Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

And each one threw down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened with strength, and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hard with firmness, he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile, and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.

And you shall say to him, Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now. Thus says Yahweh, By this you shall know that I am Yahweh.

Behold, I am about to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood. And the fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will be weary of drinking water from the Nile.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your staff, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood.

And there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. So Moses and Aaron did thus, as Yahweh had commanded. And he raised up the staff, and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile, and the blood was through all the land of Egypt. Yet the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened with strength, and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken.

Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not set his heart even on this. So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile. And seven full days passed, after Yahweh had struck the Nile.