7. In the past they lived as strangers in Mesopotamia because they weren’t willing to follow the gods of their ancestors in the land of Chaldea.
8. They broke with the customs of their parents and worshipped the God of heaven, the God whom they knew. So their ancestors sent them away from the presence of their gods, and they fled to Mesopotamia, where they lived as strangers for a long time.
9. Then their God commanded them to leave there and go to the land of Canaan. They settled there and became very rich in gold, silver, and cattle.
10. But when a famine spread through the land of Canaan, they went down to live as strangers in Egypt, where there was food. While they were there, their numbers increased so that they couldn’t be counted.
11. Then the king of Egypt turned against them and took advantage of them, enslaving them and forcing them to make bricks.
12. They cried out to their God, and he sent incurable plagues upon the entire land of Egypt, so that the Egyptians drove them out of their sight.
13. God dried up the Red Sea before the Israelites,
14. and led them by way of Sinai and Kadesh-barnea. They drove out all of the inhabitants of the desert.