Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of
Israel: Let my people go. Pharaoh answered: Who is Jehovah, that I
should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know Him not, and
moreover I will not let Israel go.
Moses now performed the wonders that God had given him, but Pharaoh
hardened his heart and would not let the people go. Then God said unto
Moses: Take thy rod and smite the waters in the Nile. Moses did so, and
the waters became blood. When this did not help, God sent nine other
plagues upon Egypt. The eighth plague was numberless locusts that
covered all the land, and ate every green thing, and the ninth was a
thick darkness that lasted for three days; but in Goshen there were no
locusts, and there it was light.
The Lord now bade Moses speak to the children of Israel and say: Tonight
ye shall kill a lamb in every house, and ye shall take the blood and put
it on the two door posts; ye shall roast the lamb and eat it with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs; and ye shall stand with your staff in
hand, ready to go out.--Thus the Lord instituted the Passover.
At midnight the Lord passed through Egypt and slew all the first-born,
from the first-born of Pharaoh to the first-born of the slave. But He
saw the blood on the dwellings of Israel and passed over. And there was
a great cry in Egypt, and Pharaoh urged Israel to go. So the Israelites
went out of Egypt, 600,000 men who could go out to battle, and Moses
took the bones of Joseph with him. And the Lord went before them in a
pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day, and he led them
toward the Red Sea. But Pharaoh regretted that he had let Israel depart,
and he pursued them with all his chariots and overtook them at the Red
Sea. Then the Israelites murmured against Moses and said: Were there not
graves enough in Egypt, that thou must take us out in the wilderness to
die? Moses answered: Today you shall see the salvation of the Lord. And
he stretched forth his hand, and the waters were divided, and the
children of Israel walked over on dry ground, while the water stood as a
wall on the right hand and on the left. The Egyptians pursued them, but
when they were in the midst of the Red Sea, and the Israelites had
passed over, Moses again stretched out his hand, and the waters returned
and buried all the host of Pharaoh. (Ex. 5-14.)