No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: ‘I burned half of it in the fire – yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?’

“You should fear me!” says the Lord. “You should tremble in awe before me! I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it can never cross. Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail. They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.”

But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’”

I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, “so that they will be too numerous to count.”

My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”

He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob.

But you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then your words will be verified and you will not die.” They did as he said.

The first disappeared and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” I have not seen him since.

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, not even under force.

Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites.

You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning.

When they measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing; each one had gathered what he could eat.

On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing.

And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’

“You must not wrong a foreigner nor oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

“You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning.

they must wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die. And this will be a perpetual ordinance for them and for their descendants throughout their generations.”

When the people heard this troubling word they mourned; no one put on his ornaments.