Old/New Testament
Blessing during Bondage in Egypt
1 [a] These[b] are the names[c] of the sons of Israel[d] who entered Egypt—each man with his household[e] entered with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the people[f] who were directly descended[g] from Jacob numbered seventy.[h] But Joseph was already in Egypt,[i] 6 and in time[j] Joseph[k] and his brothers and all that generation died. 7 The Israelites,[l] however,[m] were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong,[n] so that the land was filled with them.
8 Then a new king,[o] who did not know about[p] Joseph, came to power[q] over Egypt. 9 He said[r] to his people, “Look at[s] the Israelite people, more numerous and stronger than we are! 10 Come, let’s deal wisely[t] with them. Otherwise[u] they will continue to multiply,[v] and if[w] a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with[x] our enemies and fight against us and leave[y] the country.”
11 So they put foremen[z] over the Israelites[aa] to oppress[ab] them with hard labor. As a result[ac] they built Pithom and Rameses[ad] as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more the Egyptians[ae] oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread.[af] As a result the Egyptians loathed[ag] the Israelites, 13 and they[ah] made the Israelites serve rigorously.[ai] 14 They made their lives bitter[aj] by[ak] hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service[al] in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous.[am]
15 The king of Egypt said[an] to the Hebrew midwives,[ao] one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,[ap] 16 [aq] “When you assist[ar] the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery:[as] If it is a son, kill him,[at] but if it is a daughter, she may live.”[au] 17 But[av] the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.[aw]
18 Then the king of Egypt summoned[ax] the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”[ay] 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew[az] women are not like the Egyptian women—for the Hebrew women[ba] are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!”[bb] 20 So God treated the midwives well,[bc] and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he made[bd] households[be] for them.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All sons[bf] that are born you must throw[bg] into the river, but all daughters you may let live.”[bh]
The Birth of the Deliverer
2 [bi] A man from the household[bj] of Levi married[bk] a woman who was a descendant of Levi.[bl] 2 The woman became pregnant[bm] and gave birth to a son. When[bn] she saw that[bo] he was a healthy[bp] child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket[bq] for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile.[br] 4 His sister stationed herself[bs] at a distance to find out[bt] what would[bu] happen to him.
5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh[bv] came down to wash herself[bw] by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river,[bx] and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants,[by] took it,[bz] 6 opened it,[ca] and saw the child[cb]—a boy,[cc] crying![cd]—and she felt compassion[ce] for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get[cf] a nursing woman[cg] for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse[ch] the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes, do so.”[ci] So the young girl[cj] went and got[ck] the child’s mother.[cl] 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child[cm] and nurse him for me, and I will pay your[cn] wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
10 When the child grew older[co] she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.[cp] She named him Moses, saying, “Because I drew him from the water.”[cq]
The Presumption of the Deliverer
11 [cr] In those days,[cs] when[ct] Moses had grown up, he went out to his people[cu] and observed[cv] their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking[cw] a Hebrew man, one of his own people.[cx] 12 He looked this way and that[cy] and saw that no one was there,[cz] and then he attacked[da] the Egyptian and concealed the body[db] in the sand. 13 When he went out[dc] the next day,[dd] there were[de] two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong,[df] “Why are you attacking[dg] your fellow Hebrew?”[dh]
14 The man[di] replied, “Who made you a ruler[dj] and a judge over us? Are you planning[dk] to kill me like you killed that[dl] Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking,[dm] “Surely what I did[dn] has become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard[do] about this event,[dp] he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled[dq] from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian,[dr] and he settled[ds] by a certain well.[dt]
16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw[du] water[dv] and fill[dw] the troughs in order to water their father’s flock. 17 When some[dx] shepherds came and drove them away,[dy] Moses came up and defended them[dz] and then watered their flock. 18 So when they came home[ea] to their father Reuel,[eb] he asked, “Why have you come home so early[ec] today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us[ed] from the shepherds,[ee] and he actually[ef] drew water for us and watered the flock!” 20 He said[eg] to his daughters, “So where is he?[eh] Why in the world[ei] did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat[ej] a meal[ek] with us.”
21 Moses agreed[el] to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.[em] 22 When she bore[en] a son, Moses[eo] named him Gershom, for he said, “I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land.”[ep]
The Call of the Deliverer
23 [eq] During[er] that long period of time[es] the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites[et] groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry[eu] because of their slave labor went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning;[ev] God remembered[ew] his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw[ex] the Israelites, and God understood.[ey]
3 Now Moses[ez] was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert[fa] and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.[fb] 2 The angel of the Lord[fc] appeared[fd] to him in[fe] a flame of fire from within a bush.[ff] He looked,[fg] and[fh] the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed![fi] 3 So Moses thought,[fj] “I will turn aside to see[fk] this amazing[fl] sight. Why does the bush not burn up?”[fm] 4 When the Lord[fn] saw that[fo] he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”[fp] And Moses[fq] said, “Here I am.” 5 God[fr] said, “Do not approach any closer![fs] Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy[ft] ground.”[fu] 6 He added, “I am the God of your father,[fv] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look[fw] at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen[fx] the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.[fy] 8 I have come down[fz] to deliver them[ga] from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious,[gb] to a land flowing with milk and honey,[gc] to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.[gd] 9 And now indeed[ge] the cry[gf] of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.[gg] 10 So now go, and I will send you[gh] to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses said[gi] to God,[gj] “Who am I that I should go[gk] to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He replied,[gl] “Surely I will be with you,[gm] and this will be the sign[gn] to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve[go] God at[gp] this mountain.”
13 Moses said[gq] to God, “If[gr] I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’[gs]—what should I say[gt] to them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM that I AM.”[gu] And he said, “You must say this[gv] to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord[gw]—the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name[gx] forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’[gy]
16 “Go and bring together[gz] the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers,[ha] appeared[hb] to me—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—saying, “I have attended carefully to[hc] you and to what has been done[hd] to you in Egypt, 17 and I have promised[he] that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,[hf] to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
18 “The elders[hg] will listen[hh] to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met[hi] with us. So now, let us go[hj] three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice[hk] to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go,[hl] not even under force.[hm] 20 So I will extend my hand[hn] and strike Egypt with all my wonders[ho] that I will do among them, and after that he will release you.[hp]
21 “I will grant this people favor with[hq] the Egyptians, so that when[hr] you depart you will not leave empty-handed. 22 Every[hs] woman will ask her neighbor and the one who happens to be staying[ht] in her house for items of silver and gold[hu] and for clothing. You will put these articles on your sons and daughters—thus you will plunder Egypt!”[hv]
The Death of John the Baptist
14 At that time Herod the tetrarch[a] heard reports about Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead! And because of this, miraculous powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had arrested John, bound him,[b] and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had repeatedly told[c] him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”[d] 5 Although[e] Herod[f] wanted to kill John,[g] he feared the crowd because they accepted John as a prophet. 6 But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, 7 so much that he promised[h] with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Instructed by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 Although it grieved the king,[i] because of his oath and the dinner guests he commanded it to be given. 10 So[j] he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His[k] head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 Then John’s[l] disciples came and took the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.
The Feeding of the Five Thousand
13 Now when Jesus heard this he went away from there privately in a boat[m] to an isolated place. But when the crowd heard about it,[n] they followed him on foot from the towns.[o] 14 As he got out he saw the large crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 When evening arrived, his disciples came to him saying, “This is an isolated place[p] and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But he[q] replied, “They don’t need to go. You[r] give them something to eat.” 17 They[s] said to him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 18 “Bring them here to me,” he replied. 19 Then[t] he instructed the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He gave them to the disciples,[u] who in turn gave them to the crowds.[v] 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, twelve baskets full. 21 Not counting women and children, there were about 5,000 men who ate.
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