One Year Bible.

Pharaoh Pursues the Israelites

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon.

³For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.’ ⁴And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. But I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”

So this is what the Israelites did.

⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

⁶So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him. ⁷He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

⁸And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly. ⁹The Egyptians— all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops— pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon.

¹⁰As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified and cried out to the LORD. ¹¹They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

¹³But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. ¹⁴The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Parting the Red Sea

¹⁵Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. ¹⁶And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. Then I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army and chariots and horsemen. ¹⁸The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I am honored through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁹And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰so that it came between the camps of Egypt and Israel. The cloud was there in the darkness, but it lit up the night. So all night long neither camp went near the other.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided, ²²and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.

²³And the Egyptians chased after them— all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen— and followed them into the sea. ²⁴At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion. ²⁵He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”

²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea. ²⁸The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen — the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

²⁹But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. ³¹When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

The Song at the Sea

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:

“I will sing to the LORD,

for He is highly exalted.

The horse and rider

He has thrown into the sea.

²The LORD is my strength and my song,

and He has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise Him,

my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

³The LORD is a warrior,

the LORD is His name.

⁴Pharaoh’s chariots and army

He has cast into the sea;

the finest of his officers

are drowned in the Red Sea.

⁵The depths have covered them;

they sank there like a stone.

⁶Your right hand, O LORD,

is majestic in power;

Your right hand, O LORD,

has shattered the enemy.

⁷You overthrew Your adversaries

by Your great majesty.

You unleashed Your burning wrath;

it consumed them like stubble.

⁸At the blast of Your nostrils

the waters piled up;

like a wall the currents stood firm;

the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹The enemy declared,

‘I will pursue, I will overtake.

I will divide the spoils;

I will gorge myself on them.

I will draw my sword;

my hand will destroy them.’

¹⁰But You blew with Your breath,

and the sea covered them.

They sank like lead

in the mighty waters.

¹¹Who among the gods is like You, O LORD?

Who is like You — majestic in holiness,

revered with praises,

performing wonders?

¹²You stretched out Your right hand,

and the earth swallowed them up.

¹³With loving devotion You will lead

the people You have redeemed;

with Your strength You will guide them

to Your holy dwelling.

¹⁴The nations will hear and tremble;

anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.

¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed;

trembling will seize the leaders of Moab;

those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,

¹⁶and terror and dread will fall on them.

By the power of Your arm

they will be as still as a stone

until Your people pass by, O LORD,

until the people You have bought pass by.

¹⁷You will bring them in and plant them

on the mountain of Your inheritance —

the place, O LORD, You have prepared for Your dwelling,

the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established.

¹⁸The LORD will reign forever and ever!”

¹⁹For when Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

²⁰Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing. ²¹And Miriam sang back to them:

“Sing to the LORD,

for He is highly exalted;

the horse and rider

He has thrown into the sea.”

The Waters of Marah

²²Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water. ²³And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)

²⁴So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” ²⁵And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened.

There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them, ²⁶saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

²⁷Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.

Sin Separates Us from God

¹Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,

nor His ear too dull to hear.

²But your iniquities have built barriers

between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden His face from you,

so that He does not hear.

³For your hands are stained with blood,

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies,

and your tongue mutters injustice.

⁴No one calls for justice;

no one pleads his case honestly.

They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies;

they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

⁵They hatch the eggs of vipers

and weave a spider’s web.

Whoever eats their eggs will die;

crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

⁶Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing,

and they cannot cover themselves with their works.

Their deeds are sinful deeds,

and acts of violence are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil;

they are swift to shed innocent blood.

Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;

ruin and destruction lie in their wake.

⁸The way of peace they have not known,

and there is no justice in their tracks.

They have turned them into crooked paths;

no one who treads on them will know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not reach us.

We hope for light, but there is darkness;

for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall,

groping like those without eyes.

We stumble at midday as in the twilight;

among the vigorous we are like the dead.

¹¹We all growl like bears

and moan like doves.

We hope for justice, but find none,

for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before You,

and our sins testify against us.

Our transgressions are indeed with us,

and we know our iniquities:

¹³rebelling and denying the LORD,

turning away from our God,

speaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.

¹⁴So justice is turned away,

and righteousness stands at a distance.

For truth has stumbled in the public square,

and honesty cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is missing,

and whoever turns from evil becomes prey.

The LORD looked and was displeased

that there was no justice.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man;

He was amazed that there was no one to intercede.

So His own arm brought salvation,

and His own righteousness sustained Him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate,

and the helmet of salvation on His head;

He put on garments of vengeance

and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

The Covenant of the Redeemer

¹⁸So He will repay according to their deeds:

fury to His enemies,

retribution to His foes,

and recompense to the islands.

¹⁹So shall they fear the name of the LORD

where the sun sets,

and His glory where it rises.

For He will come like a raging flood,

driven by the breath of the LORD.

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,”

declares the LORD.

²¹“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the LORD.

The Beginning

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. ⁵The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Witness of John

⁶There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe. ⁸He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

⁹The true Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. ¹¹He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹²But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God — ¹³children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

The Word Became Flesh

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”

¹⁶From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

The Mission of John the Baptist

¹⁹And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰He did not refuse to confess, but openly declared, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹“Then who are you?” they inquired. “Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

²²So they said to him, “Who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

²⁴Then the Pharisees who had been sent ²⁵asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands One you do not know. ²⁷He is the One who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

²⁸All this happened at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Jesus the Lamb of God

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’ ³¹I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

³²Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Him. ³³I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples

³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

³⁸Jesus turned and saw them following. “What do you want?” He asked.

They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”

³⁹“Come and see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s testimony and followed Jesus. ⁴¹He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ).

⁴²Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to set out for Galilee. Finding Philip, He told him, “Follow Me.” ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.

⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

⁴⁶“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸“How do You know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

⁴⁹“Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹Then He declared, “Truly, truly, I tell you, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”