Letters were sent by the runners to all the king&#8217;s provinces stating that<n id="1" /> they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children,<n id="2" /> on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day<n id="3" /> of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.

<p class="bodytext">In the six hundredth year of Noah&#8217;s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month &#8211; on that day all the fountains of the great deep<n id="1" /> burst open and the floodgates of the heavens<n id="2" /> were opened.

<p class="bodytext">So after Abram had lived<n id="1" /> in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram&#8217;s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant,<n id="2" /> to her husband to be his wife.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">During the night Jacob quickly took<n id="1" /> his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons<n id="2" /> and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.<n id="3" />

While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with<n id="1" /> Bilhah, his father&#8217;s concubine, and Israel heard about it.p> <p class="bodytext">Jacob had twelve sons:p>

<p class="bodytext">Then he had another dream,<n id="1" /> and told it to his brothers. &#8220;Look,&#8221;<n id="2" /> he said. &#8220;I had another dream. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.&#8221;

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">When<n id="2" /> they journeyed from Elim, the entire company<n id="3" /> of Israelites came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their exodus<n id="4" /> from the land of Egypt.

and Moses wrote down all the words of the <sc>Lordsc>. Early in the morning he built<n id="1" /> an altar at the foot<n id="2" /> of the mountain and arranged<n id="3" /> twelve standing stones<n id="4" /> &#8211; according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

The stones are to be for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to the number of<n id="1" /> their names. Each name according to the twelve tribes is to be like<n id="2" /> the engravings of a seal.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">All the skilled among those who were doing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet; they were made with cherubim that were the work of an artistic designer.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;On<n id="1" /> the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the <sc>Lordsc> for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest.

They brought<n id="1" /> their offering before the <sc>Lordsc>, six covered carts<n id="2" /> and twelve oxen &#8211; one cart for every two of the leaders, and an ox for each one; and they presented them in front of the tabernacle.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">This was the dedication for the altar from the leaders of Israel, when it was anointed: twelve silver platters, twelve silver sprinkling bowls, and twelve gold pans.

And they observed the Passover<n id="1" /> on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the <sc>Lordsc> had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.p>

For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted<n id="1" /> me now these ten times,<n id="2" /> and have not obeyed me,<n id="3" />

&#8220;Speak to the Israelites, and receive from them a staff from each tribe,<n id="1" /> one from every tribal leader,<n id="2" /> twelve staffs; you must write each man&#8217;s name on his staff.

<p class="bodytext">So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader,<n id="1" /> according to their tribes<n id="2" /> &#8211; twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work, and you must keep a festival to the <sc>Lordsc> for seven days.

All the gold of the offering they offered up to the <sc>Lordsc> from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds weighed 16,750 shekels.<n id="1" />

They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day<n id="1" /> after the Passover the Israelites went out defiantly<n id="2" /> in plain sight<n id="3" /> of all the Egyptians.