¹ So Moses went back ²  to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return ³  to my relatives ⁴  in Egypt and see ⁵  if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹ The Lord said ²  to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand ³  before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: “Release my people so that they may serve me!

Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, ¹  so that they could ²  travel day or night. ³ 

You ¹  are to speak to all who are specially skilled, ²  whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, ³  so that they may make ⁴  Aaron’s garments to set him apart ⁵  to minister as my priest.

The robe ¹  is to be on Aaron as he ministers, ²  and his sound will be heard ³  when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he leaves, so that he does not die.

When they enter ¹  the tent of meeting, they must wash with ²  water so that they do not die. ³  Also, when they approach ⁴  the altar to minister by burning incense ⁵  as an offering made by fire ⁶  to the Lord,

Moses said to him, “When I leave the city ¹  I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. ² 

The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea ¹  – not so much as one of them survived! ² 

¹ “Now this is what ²  you are to do for them to consecrate them so that they may minister as my priests. Take a young ³  bull and two rams without blemish; ⁴ 

“So I will set apart as holy ¹  the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me.

The Lord also said to him, “Put your hand into your robe.” ¹  So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out – there was his hand, ²  leprous like snow! ³ 

¹ Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, ²  the God of Israel, ‘Release ³  my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feast ⁴  to me in the desert.’”

Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long ¹  will this man be a menace ²  to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know ³  that Egypt is destroyed?”

and wrap the sashes around Aaron and his sons ¹  and put headbands on them, and so the ministry of priesthood will belong to them by a perpetual ordinance. Thus you are to consecrate ²  Aaron and his sons.

and they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the Lord their God.

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; ¹  he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. ² 

“If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she ¹  dies as a result of the blow, ²  he will surely be punished. ³ 

When Moses extended ¹  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ²  sent thunder ³  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ⁴  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

It was a night of vigil for the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt, ¹  and so ²  on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil ³  to the Lord for generations to come.

¹  It ²  will be a sign ³  for you on your hand and a memorial ⁴  on your forehead, ⁵  so that the law of the Lord may be ⁶  in your mouth, ⁷  for ⁸  with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.