1) The Israelites multiplied greatly. A new Pharaoh came to power, one who did not know Joseph, and he told his people to enslave the Israelites because they have become too many and mighty, and we wouldn't want them joining our enemies in a war.
The Pharaoh commands the Hebrew midwives to kill any sons born to Hebrew women. The midwives do not do as commanded. The Pharaoh tell his people to throw all the Hebrew sons into the Nile.
2) A child is born to a Levite family. The mother hides him for three months, then puts him in a basket and places it amongst the reeds by the river bank. The child's sister waits nearby to see what happens.
The Pharaoh's daughter finds the basket. The child's sister approaches, and offers to find a nurse for the baby. She brings her mother. The Pharaoh's daughter offers to pay the mother's wages while she raises the child.
'When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses.'
Fast forward. Moses is grown up. He sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Looking around, Moses sees no one, so he kills the Egyptian and buries the body in the sand.
The next day, Moses sees two Hebrews fighting and tries to intervene.
“Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
Moses becomes afraid, and realises that his crime is known (I imagine the Hebrew he saved from the beating wasn't good at keeping secrets). Moses flees to the land of Midian, and ends up staying with a guy called Reuel/Jethro (the narrative alternates between the names), marrying one of his daughters, Zipporah, and having a son.
"During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob."
3) Moses was keeping his father-in-law's flock when he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of God appeared to him as a flame of fire on a bush. The bush was burning, but it was not consumed.
“Moses, Moses!” said God, "Here I am."
And God told Moses to take his sandals off, because he was standing on holy ground.
God tells Moses that he is going to free his people from their slavery in Egypt, but he needs Moses to be his messenger. God tells him to return to Egypt and ask for the Hebrews' freedom.
"But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbour, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewellery, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
4) Moses doubts that anyone will believe him or listen to him. God tells him to throw his staff onto the ground: it becomes a serpent and Moses runs away. God tells Moses to catch the serpent by its tail. Moses does so, and it transforms back into a staff. God gives Moses another sign: his cloak makes hands leprous, then cures them. These signs will be used to convince the people.
Moses tells God about his speech impediment. God tells Moses to use his brother Aaron as an interpreter.
Moses says goodbye to his father-in-law and returns to Egypt with his wife and children, Staff of God in hand.
On the way, God decides to kill Moses, but Zipporah cuts off their son's foreskin just in time, so God lets him live.
God tells Aaron to meet up with Moses in the wilderness. Moses and Aaron meet with elders of Israel and perform the signs. The people believe.
5) Moses and Aaron meet with the Pharaoh and ask for Israel's freedom. The Pharaoh refuses, and makes the slaves' lives a bit harder. Moses gets upset, God tries to comfort him, and tells him to see the Pharaoh again.
6-7) God tells Moses that the Pharaoh is not going to free his people yet, but not to worry because God has cool acts of judgement planned.
He tells Moses and Aaron to prove their power to the Pharaoh by turning the staff into a serpent.
They do this, but the Pharaoh summons the Wizards of Egypt, who transforms their staffs into serpents.
The serpents fight, and God's staff-serpent devours the Egyptian staff-serpents.
The Pharaoh refuses to free the people.
The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood.
The next morning, Moses and Aaron go to the bank of the Nile in the morning and strike the water with the Staff of God. The water turns to blood. The fish die, the river stinks, and the water could not be drunk.
But the Wizards of Egypt could also turn water to blood. The Pharaoh refuses to free the people.
8) The Second Plague: Frogs
Seven days later, Aaron uses the staff to summon frogs from the rivers, canals and pools of Egypt. But the Wizards of Egypt could do the same. The Pharaoh asks Moses to stop the frogs, Moses agrees to limit the frogs to the Nile. The frogs in the houses, courtyards and fields die.
But the Pharaoh would not let the people go.
The Third Plague: Gnats
Aaron strikes the ground with his staff, and the dust of the Earth rises up and becomes gnats. The Wizards of Egypt could not do the same.
The Fourth Plague: Flies
Gods sends swarms of flies to Egypt, but they do not bother the Hebrews. The Pharaoh promises to let the people go, and asks Moses to stop the flies. God stops the flies, but the Pharaoh changes his mind.
9) The Fifth Plague: Egyptian Livestock Die
God kills all of the Egyptians' livestock, but leaves the livestock of the Israelites alone.
The Sixth Plague: Boils
Moses throws some soot into the air and it becomes a fine dust over the land of Egypt, and causes boils to break out in sores on Egyptians and animals throughout the land. The Wizards of Egypt could not face Moses because they were defeated by the boils.
The Seventh Plague: Hail
Moses points the Staff of God at heaven. The sky thunders. Hail and fire rains down on Egypt. The hail and fire kills everything that isn't safely inside, except for the Israelites, which it leaves alone.
The Pharaoh asks Moses to stop the thunder and hail, and promises to let the people go. Again, God stops, and again, the Pharaoh changes his mind.
10) The Eighth Plague: Locusts
The Pharaoh's servants are getting annoyed, they say to him:
“How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?”
Moses and Aaron are brought in to see the Pharaoh, but the Pharaoh changes his mind about letting them go.
Moses points the Staff of God over Egypt, and God sends a strong east wind which, the next morning, brings locusts.
The locusts settled on the whole country, devouring all the food the Egyptian's had left. 'Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.' The Pharaoh asks Moses and Aaron to stop the locusts. God turns the wind westwards and blows the locusts into the Red Sea. But the Pharaoh would not let the people go.
The Ninth Plague: Darkness
Moses stretches his hand towards heaven, and the land of Egypt is cast into pitch darkness for three days, but the 'people of Israel had light where they lived.'
The Pharaoh tells Moses that his people may leave, but must leave their livestock behind. Moses says that this is unacceptable. The Pharaoh thinks this is ridiculous, and tells Moses to go away.
11) God makes the Egyptians like the Israelites, so they give them lots of jewellery. Moses warns the Pharaoh of a final plague: God "will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel."
12) God tells Moses how his people should celebrate the Passover, and to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb.
"For 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 all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 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. This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast."
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
'At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, 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. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
The Exodus begins. The Israelites, about 600,000 of them, leave the land of Egypt.
13) 'The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”'
Moses tells the Israelites that they are going to celebrate the Passover every year, and tells them that every firstborn animal shall be sacrificed, and that every firstborn human shall be redeemed.
God leads the Israelites in a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, towards the Red Sea.
14) The Pharaoh and his people change their mind about releasing the Israelites. The army of Egypt, all the king's horses and chariots and horsemen, sets off to capture them.
The Israelites camp facing the Red Sea. They see the approaching Egyptians and think they are all going to die. They say to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?"
But Moses says, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
God, in the pillar of cloud, moves between the Israelites and the Egyptians. 'And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.'
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily.'
Moses stretches his hand over the sea, and the water crashes down on the Egyptians. Not one of them was left alive. 'But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.'
15) The people of Israel celebrate their freedom by singing the Song of Moses/the Song of the Sea:
After credits scene:
The Israelites are now in the wilderness of Shur. They find no water for three days.
Then they find water, but it is bitter and they cannot drink it.
They grumble at Moses. God tells Moses to throw a certain log into the water. The water becomes sweet. God says to them:
“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
Then the Israelites arrive at Elim, a place with twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees.
[Note: the narrative alternates between telling us that 'the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart', 'the heart of Pharaoh was hardened' and 'Pharaoh hardened his heart'. Each version is subtly different and changes who is responsible for the continued enslavement of the Israelites. The first suggests that God deliberately made the Pharaoh crueller so he could show off his acts of judgement. The second is passive, and suggests that the heart hardening just happened because of, say, a bad upbringing - no one is responsible. The final version puts the blame squarely on the Pharaoh for being a nasty person.
Note 2: I'm looking forward to Ridley Scott's (probably very loose) adaptation:
]NEXT TIME ON EXODUS:
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES, BUT WHAT WILL THEY EAT?
THE LORD PROVIDES...
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