Exodus 1

⁸Now these are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.

⁹The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

²Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

²³The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

¹⁴These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

⁴Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

⁴And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel:

⁵From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000,

²²While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

²⁰and in the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. Mount these stones in gold filigree settings.

²³The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²²Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

²⁶All those belonging to Jacob who came to Egypt—his direct descendants, besides the wives of Jacob’s sons—numbered sixty-six persons.

²⁷And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all.

³⁰Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.

²⁰So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.

²⁶So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.

¹⁵So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.

²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

³“I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

⁵and you are to declare before the Lord your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty and numerous.

²⁸God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

¹¹And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.

¹And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

²⁷Now the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and became fruitful and increased greatly in number.

¹⁸Then another king, who knew nothing of Joseph, arose over Egypt.

¹⁸I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

¹⁵Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

²⁴And the Lord made His people very fruitful, more numerous than their foes,

²⁵whose hearts He turned to hate His people, to conspire against His servants.

¹⁴But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.

¹⁵Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

⁴I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

²⁸A large population is a king’s splendor, but a lack of subjects is a prince’s ruin.

⁴Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?

³For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

¹⁹He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.

³With cunning they scheme against Your people and conspire against those You cherish,

⁴saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation; may the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

¹¹If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,

²⁵whose hearts He turned to hate His people, to conspire against His servants.

²In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.

²⁵There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

¹¹So Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

⁷The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.

¹¹One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

⁶But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor.

⁶“I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

²⁴And the Lord made His people very fruitful, more numerous than their foes,

⁹“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us.

²⁸And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

²⁸“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.”

²⁹But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

²greatly disturbed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

³They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in custody until the next day.

¹⁹Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You can see that this is doing you no good. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!”

²⁰Yet the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.

¹⁹He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.

¹⁵how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers,

²³After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.

⁹Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.

³⁴I have indeed seen the oppression of My people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’

⁶“I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”

³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’

²⁹But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

²¹And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.

⁵But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, after you have been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!

¹³When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.

²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

¹⁸Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.

⁴For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

²⁸Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!”

⁴But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

⁵At dusk, when the gate was about to close, the men went out, and I do not know which way they went. Pursue them quickly, and you may catch them!”

¹⁹Then the man’s wife took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain over it so nobody would know a thing.

²⁰When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” “They have crossed over the brook,” she replied. The men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

²“The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission on which I am sending you. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place.

¹⁰Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.

¹⁸The wicked man earns an empty wage, but he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward.

⁵He provides food for those who fear Him; He remembers His covenant forever.

¹²But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

¹⁰For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.

³⁸If you listen to all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and commandments as My servant David did, then I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

³⁵Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. And I will build for him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one for all time.

³Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.

²⁷For You, O Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant when You said, ‘I will build a house for you.’ Therefore Your servant has found the courage to offer this prayer to You.

²⁸And now, O Lord God, You are God! Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant.

²⁴And now, as surely as the Lord lives—the One who established me, who set me on the throne of my father David, and who founded for me a dynasty as He promised—surely Adonijah shall be put to death today!”

¹⁹He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

²⁵whose hearts He turned to hate His people, to conspire against His servants.

¹⁶For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.

⁴And the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned to blood.

⁵And I heard the angel of the waters say: “Righteous are You, O Holy One, who is and was, because You have brought these judgments.

¹⁶“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”