The Seventh Day, God Rests

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and ^(A)all the host of them. ² And ^(B)on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. ³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

⁵ When no ^(D)bush of the field^[a] was yet in the land^[b] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man ^(E)to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist^[c] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of ^(F)dust from the ground and ^(G)breathed into his ^(H)nostrils the breath of life, and ^(I)the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a ^(J)garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^(K)The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, ^(L)and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of ^(M)Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the ^(N)Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man ^(O)and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^(P)you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[d] of it you ^(Q)shall surely die.”

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; ^(R)I will make him a helper fit for^[e] him.” ^19 (S)Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed^[f] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and ^(T)brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[g] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a ^(U)deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[h] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

^24 (X)Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The Fall

3 Now ^(Y)the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[j] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ^(Z)‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ^4 (AA)But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[k] she took of its fruit ^(AB)and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, ^(AC)and he ate. ^7 (AD)Then the eyes of both were opened, ^(AE)and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool^[l] of the day, and the man and his wife ^(AF)hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”^{[m] 10} And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, ^(AG)because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, ^(AH)“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, ^(AI)“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ And to Adam he said,

²⁰ The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.^{[p] 21} And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, ^(AU)“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand ^(AV)and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden ^(AW)to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the ^(AX)cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ^2 (A)“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb ^(B)according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be ^(C)without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, ⁶ and you shall keep it until the ^(D)fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.^[a]

⁷ “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the ^(E)two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with ^(F)unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but ^(G)roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰ And ^(H)you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: with ^(I)your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. ^(J)It is the Lord's Passover. ¹² For ^(K)I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on ^(L)all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: ^(M)I am the Lord. ^13 (N)The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “This day shall be ^(O)for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a ^(P)statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. ^15 (Q)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, ^(R)that person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a ^(S)holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^(T)on this very day I brought your ^(U)hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. ^18 (V)In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ^19 (W)For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, ^(X)that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, ^(Y)whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves ^(Z)according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bunch of ^(AA)hyssop and ^(AB)dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch ^(AC)the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. ^(AD)None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ^23 (AE)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on ^(AF)the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^(AG)will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. ²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. ²⁵ And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, ^(AH)as he has promised, you shall keep this service. ²⁶ And ^(AI)when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ you shall say, ^(AJ)‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people ^(AK)bowed their heads and worshiped.

²⁸ Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

^29 (AL)At midnight the ^(AM)Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, ^(AN)from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. ³⁰ And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was ^(AO)a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. ³¹ Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, ^(AP)both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. ^32 (AQ)Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

The Exodus

^33 (AR)The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. ³⁵ The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had ^(AS)asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ^36 (AT)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that ^(AU)they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ And the ^(AV)people of Israel journeyed from ^(AW)Rameses to Succoth, ^(AX)about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸ A ^(AY)mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because ^(AZ)they were thrust out of Egypt and ^(BA)could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of ^(BB)430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a ^(BC)night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

Institution of the Passover

⁴³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, ⁴⁴ but every slave^[b] that is ^(BD)bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. ^45 (BE)No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. ⁴⁶ It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and ^(BF)you shall not break any of its bones. ^47 (BG)All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ^48 (BH)If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he ^(BI)shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. ⁴⁹ There shall be ^(BJ)one law for the native and for the ^(BK)stranger who sojourns among you.”

⁵⁰ All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ And on that very day the ^(BL)Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their ^(BM)hosts.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and ^(A)kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^[a]