but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die."

Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Is it really true that God said, 'You must not eat from any tree of the orchard'?"

but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, 'You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.'"

But to Adam he said, "Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

And the Lord God said, "Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it."

Look! You are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me."

So God said to Noah, "I have decided that all living creatures must die, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.

You must bring into the ark two of every kind of living creature from all flesh, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

And you must take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten, and gather it together. It will be food for you and for them.

You must take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, the male and its mate, two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate,

But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it.

"Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed; for in God's image God has made humankind."

I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name."

Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep the covenantal requirement I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.

You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you.

Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.

They must indeed be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant will be visible in your flesh as a permanent reminder.

Then God said to Abraham, "As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name.

that I must go down and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. If not, I want to know."

He replied, "You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof that I dug this well."

so that I may make you solemnly promise by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac."

The servant asked him, "What if the woman is not willing to come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?"

But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, you will be free from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!"

My master made me swear an oath. He said, 'You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living,

but you must go to the family of my father and to my relatives to find a wife for my son.'

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, "You must not marry a Canaanite woman!

Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. As he blessed him, Isaac commanded him, "You must not marry a Canaanite woman."

When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son's mandrakes." So he had marital relations with her that night.

Indeed, you had little before I arrived, but now your possessions have increased many times over. The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?"

He commanded them, "This is what you must say to my lord Esau: 'This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

then you must say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. In fact Jacob himself is behind us.'"

He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, as well as all those who were following the herds, saying, "You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.

You must also say, 'In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.'" Jacob thought, "I will first appease him by sending a gift ahead of me. After that I will meet him. Perhaps he will accept me."

You can make the bride price and the gift I must bring very expensive, and I'll give whatever you ask of me. Just give me the young woman as my wife!"

We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males.

One of you must go and get your brother, while the rest of you remain in prison. In this way your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

But you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then your words will be verified and you will not die." They did as he said.

Reuben said to them, "Didn't I say to you, 'Don't sin against the boy,' but you wouldn't listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!"

Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man -- a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

Take double the money with you; you must take back the money that was returned in the mouths of your sacks -- perhaps it was an oversight.

Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He said, "God will surely come to you. Then you must carry my bones up from this place."

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "All sons that are born you must throw into the river, but all daughters you may let live."

God said to Moses, "I am that I am." And he said, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'I am has sent me to you.'"

God also said to Moses, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'The Lord -- the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob -- has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.'

"The elders will listen to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.'

So now go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you must say."

"So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you both what you must do.

You must say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, "Israel is my son, my firstborn,

"You must no longer give straw to the people for making bricks as before. Let them go and collect straw for themselves.

But you must require of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. That is why they are crying, 'Let us go sacrifice to our God.'

So now, get back to work! You will not be given straw, but you must still produce your quota of bricks!"

The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, "You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks."

"Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt that he must release the Israelites from his land."

You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release the Israelites from his land.

We must go on a three-day journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, just as he is telling us."

Pharaoh said, "I will release you so that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert. Only you must not go very far. Do pray for me."

Our livestock must also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take these animals to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord."

Tell the whole community of Israel, 'In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families -- a lamb for each household.

Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown.

You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning.

For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. Surely on the first day you must put away yeast from your houses because anyone who eats bread made with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel.

On the first day there will be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind on them, only what every person will eat -- that alone may be prepared for you.

So you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your regiments out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast -- that person will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner or one born in the land.

You will not eat anything made with yeast; in all the places where you live you must eat bread made without yeast.'"

You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever.

When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe this ceremony.

A foreigner and a hired worker must not eat it.

It must be eaten in one house; you must not bring any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it.

The whole community of Israel must observe it.

"When a foreigner lives with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may approach and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land -- but no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord.

Bread made without yeast must be eaten for seven days; no bread made with yeast shall be seen among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders.

So you must keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.

then you must give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. Every firstling of a beast that you have -- the males will be the Lord's.

Every firstling of a donkey you must redeem with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, then you must break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you must redeem.

"Tell the Israelites that they must turn and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you are to camp by the sea before Baal Zephon opposite it.

warn them of the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.

You must set boundaries for the people all around, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves not to go up on the mountain nor touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death!

No hand will touch him -- but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; he must not live.' When the ram's horn sounds a long blast they may go up on the mountain."

You must not make gods of silver alongside me, nor make gods of gold for yourselves.

You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you.

If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of stones shaped with tools, for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it.

And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.'

then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully with her.

If he takes another wife, he must not diminish the first one's food, her clothing, or her marital rights.

"Whoever strikes someone so that he dies must surely be put to death.

"Whoever strikes his father or his mother must surely be put to death.

"Whoever kidnaps someone and sells him, or is caught still holding him, must surely be put to death.

"Whoever treats his father or his mother disgracefully must surely be put to death.

"If men fight, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist and he does not die, but must remain in bed,

and then if he gets up and walks about outside on his staff, then the one who struck him is innocent, except he must pay for the injured person's loss of time and see to it that he is fully healed.

"If an ox gores a man or a woman so that either dies, then the ox must surely be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted.

But if the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner was warned, and he did not take the necessary precautions, and then it killed a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned and the man must be put to death.

If a ransom is set for him, then he must pay the redemption for his life according to whatever amount was set for him.