Exodus 1:5-17 [42.158 Fragment A]

1:1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one with his household:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 And all the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy five in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 And Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.

7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

9 And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.

10 "Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and in the event of war, they also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us, and depart from the land."

11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.

13 And the Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously;

14 and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.

15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the other was named Puah;

16 and he said, "When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live."

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live.

Exod 1:22-2:5 [42.158 Fragment B, Right Column]

1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive."

2:1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it, and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

4 And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her.

Exodus 3:8-3:15 [42.158 Fragment B, Left Column]

3:8 "So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Perizzite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.

9 "And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

10 "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."

11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?"

12 And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."

13 Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, `The God of your their fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, `What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"

14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'"

15 And God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.

Exodus 4:25-5:1 [42.158 Fragments C and D, Right Column]

4:25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw it at Moses' feet, and she said, "You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me."

26 So He let him alone. At that time she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood"-- because of the circumcision.

27 Now the LORD said to Aaron, "Go to meet Moses in the wilderness." So he went and met him at the mountain of God, and he kissed him.

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which He had sent him, and all the signs that He had commanded him to do.

29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel;

30 and Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. He then performed the signs in the sight of the people.

31 So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped.

5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, `Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.'"

{Missing between fragments C/D and E}

5:2 But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go."

3 Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."

Exodus 5:4-8 [42.158 Fragment E]

5:4 But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!"

5 Again Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!"

6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying,

7 "You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves.

8 "But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall impose on them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, therefore they cry out, `Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

{Missing between fragments E and F}

5:9 "Let the labor be heavier on the men, and let them work at it that they may pay no attention to false words."

Exodus 5:10-14 [42.158 Fragment F]

5:10 So the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, "Thus says Pharaoh, `I am not going to give you any straw.

11 `You go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it; but none of your labor will be reduced.' "

12 So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

13 And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, "Complete your work quota, your daily amount, just as when you had straw."

14 Moreover, the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, "Why have you not completed your required amount either yesterday or today in making brick as previously?"

Exodus 6:4-6:10 [42.158 Fragment D, Left Column]

6:4 "And I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.

5 "And furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.

6 "Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

7 `Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 `And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for for a possession; I am the LORD.'"

9 So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage.

10 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

11 "Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land."

Exodus 6:15-18 [42.158 Fragment G]

6:15 And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.

16 And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the length of Levi's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years.

17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families.

18 And the sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; and the length of Kohath's life was one hundred and thirty-three years.

{Missing between fragments G and H}

6:19 And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.

Exod 6:20-21 [42.158 Fragment H]

6:20 And Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the length of Amram's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years.

21 And the sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri.

Exod 7:6-7:12 [42.158 Fragment I]

7:6 So Moses and Aaron did it; as the LORD commanded them, thus they did.

7 And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, `Work a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, `Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'"

10 So Moses and Aaron came to before Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

12 For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

13 Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

{Missing between fragments I and J}

7:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.

Exodus 7:15-20 [42.158 Fragment J]

7:15 "Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.

16 "And you will say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying," Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now."

17 `Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it shall be turned to blood.

18 "And the fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul; and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile."'"

19 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, `Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"

20 So Moses and Aaron did even as the LORD had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

SIMILARITIES: Regular = MT yes, DSS yes; Italics = MT yes, DSS probable; Small Type = MT yes, DSS hole

DIFFERENCES: Italics/Bold (Blue) = MT yes, DSS no; Underline/Bold (Red) = DSS yes, MT no; Underline (Purple) = DSS probable, MT no

OTHER: .... = blank space, apparently with no writing; $ = present in NASB, but missing in MT; % = correction of NASB to make it reflect MT; Phrase in {brackets} = explanation.

ABBREVIATIONS: MT = Masoretic Text (1,000 years old); DSS = Dead Sea Scrolls (2,000 years old); NASB = New American Standard Bible, a literal English Bible translation