Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

6 What shall we say, then?^(A) Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?^{(B) 2} By no means! We are those who have died to sin;^(C) how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized^(D) into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death^(E) in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead^(F) through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.^(G)

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.^{(H) 6} For we know that our old self^(I) was crucified with him^(J) so that the body ruled by sin^(K) might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin^(L)— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.^(M)

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.^{(N) 9} For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,^(O) he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.^{(P) 10} The death he died, he died to sin^(Q) once for all;^(R) but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin^(S) but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign^(T) in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,^(U) but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.^{(V) 14} For sin shall no longer be your master,^(W) because you are not under the law,^(X) but under grace.^(Y)

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?^(Z) By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey^(AA)—whether you are slaves to sin,^(AB) which leads to death,^(AC) or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God^(AD) that, though you used to be slaves to sin,^(AE) you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching^(AF) that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin^(AG) and have become slaves to righteousness.^(AH)

¹⁹ I am using an example from everyday life^(AI) because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness^(AJ) leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin,^(AK) you were free from the control of righteousness.^{(AL) 21} What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!^{(AM) 22} But now that you have been set free from sin^(AN) and have become slaves of God,^(AO) the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.^{(AP) 23} For the wages of sin is death,^(AQ) but the gift of God is eternal life^(AR) in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Israelites Oppressed

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel^(A) who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; ³ Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; ⁴ Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.^{(B) 5} The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy^[a] in all;^(C) Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,^{(D) 7} but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers^(E) and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.^{(F) 9} “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous^(G) for us.^{(H) 10} Come, we must deal shrewdly^(I) with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”^(J)

¹¹ So they put slave masters^(K) over them to oppress them with forced labor,^(L) and they built Pithom and Rameses^(M) as store cities^(N) for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly.^{(O) 14} They made their lives bitter with harsh labor^(P) in brick^(Q) and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.^(R)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,^(S) whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”^{(T) 17} The midwives, however, feared^(U) God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do;^(V) they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”^(W)

²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives^(X) and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared^(Y) God, he gave them families^(Z) of their own.

²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile,^(AA) but let every girl live.”^(AB)

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man of the tribe of Levi^(AC) married a Levite woman,^{(AD) 2} and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine^(AE) child, she hid him for three months.^{(AF) 3} But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus^(AG) basket^[b] for him and coated it with tar and pitch.^(AH) Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds^(AI) along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister^(AJ) stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.^(AK) She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. ⁶ She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷ Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named^(AL) him Moses,^[c] saying, “I drew^(AM) him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people^(AN) were and watched them at their hard labor.^(AO) He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”^(AP)

¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?^(AQ) Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill^(AR) Moses, but Moses fled^(AS) from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,^(AT) where he sat down by a well. ¹⁶ Now a priest of Midian^(AU) had seven daughters, and they came to draw water^(AV) and fill the troughs^(AW) to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue^(AX) and watered their flock.^(AY)

¹⁸ When the girls returned to Reuel^(AZ) their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹ They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”^(BA)

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah^(BB) to Moses in marriage. ²² Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,^[d](BC) saying, “I have become a foreigner^(BD) in a foreign land.”

²³ During that long period,^(BE) the king of Egypt died.^(BF) The Israelites groaned in their slavery^(BG) and cried out, and their cry^(BH) for help because of their slavery went up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning and he remembered^(BI) his covenant^(BJ) with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵ So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned^(BK) about them.

Moses and the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro^(BL) his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,^(BM) and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,^(BN) the mountain^(BO) of God. ² There the angel of the Lord^(BP) appeared to him in flames of fire^(BQ) from within a bush.^(BR) Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called^(BS) to him from within the bush,^(BT) “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”^(BU)

⁵ “Do not come any closer,”^(BV) God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”^{(BW) 6} Then he said, “I am the God of your father,^[e] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”^(BX) At this, Moses hid^(BY) his face, because he was afraid to look at God.^(BZ)

⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen^(CA) the misery^(CB) of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned^(CC) about their suffering.^{(CD) 8} So I have come down^(CE) to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,^(CF) a land flowing with milk and honey^(CG)—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites^(CH) and Jebusites.^{(CI) 9} And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing^(CJ) them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending^(CK) you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”^(CL)

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I^(CM) that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹² And God said, “I will be with you.^(CN) And this will be the sign^(CO) to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[f] will worship God on this mountain.^(CP)”

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’^(CQ) Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am.^[g] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am^(CR) has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,^[h] the God of your fathers^(CS)—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob^(CT)—has sent me to you.’

¹⁶ “Go, assemble the elders^(CW) of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob^(CX)—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen^(CY) what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt^(CZ) into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’^(DA)

¹⁸ “The elders of Israel will listen^(DB) to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews,^(DC) has met^(DD) with us. Let us take a three-day journey^(DE) into the wilderness to offer sacrifices^(DF) to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand^(DG) compels him. ²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand^(DH) and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders^(DI) that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.^(DJ)

²¹ “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed^(DK) toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.^{(DL) 22} Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver^(DM) and gold^(DN) and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder^(DO) the Egyptians.”^(DP)