The Book of Exodus

Exodus tells the story at the heart of the Old Testament: a people of slaves set free by the hand of God, bound to Him by a covenant, and given His dwelling among them. The Church has always read it as the great figure of our redemption in Christ. The Greek title Exodos means "going out"; the Hebrews name the book from its first words, "These are the names". Below this guide you will find every chapter, St Jerome's Latin beside the English of the Douay-Rheims.

Who wrote the Book of Exodus?

The Church has received Exodus as the work of Moses, the second of the five books of the Law, which the Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) lists as "the five books of Moses, to wit, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy".

The book bears witness to his hand. The Lord tells Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book" (Exodus 17:14); at Sinai "Moses wrote all the words of the Lord" (Exodus 24:4); and after the covenant is renewed God commands, "Write thee these words" (Exodus 34:27). Our Lord cites the burning bush as "the book of Moses": "have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him?" (Mark 12:26). Jewish tradition and the Fathers name Moses as its author without hesitation.

In 1906 the Pontifical Biblical Commission, under St Pius X, taught that the arguments of the critics do not overturn the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. It allowed that Moses may have used sources and secretaries, and that small additions may have entered the text later. Many modern scholars propose instead that Exodus was assembled over centuries from later sources; the teaching above is the one the Church has handed down.

When was the Book of Exodus written?

Tradition holds that Moses wrote Exodus during the forty years in the desert. Scripture dates the departure from Egypt by Solomon's Temple, begun "in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel went out of the land of Egypt" (3 Kings 6:1); that reckoning places it in the fifteenth century before Christ, though some Catholic scholars prefer the thirteenth. It was written for the Israelites in the wilderness, to keep the memory of their deliverance and the Law by which they were to live.

What is the Book of Exodus about? A summary

Exodus continues the Book of Genesis, which ends with Jacob's family in Egypt. It tells the deliverance from Egypt (chapters 1–15), the journey to Sinai (15–18), and the covenant and tabernacle at Sinai (19–40).

Israel in bondage and the call of Moses (chapters 1–6)

In chapter 1 a new Pharao, "that knew not Joseph", crushes the Hebrews with forced labour and orders their male children drowned. In Exodus 2 a Levite mother hides her son in a basket of bulrushes; Pharao's daughter finds him and calls him Moses, "because I took him out of the water". Fled to Madian, Moses sees in Exodus 3 the Lord "in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush" that burns unconsumed, and learns His name. God gives him signs and his brother Aaron to speak for him (chapter 4). Pharao answers their demand, "Let my people go, that they may sacrifice to me in the desert" (Exodus 5), by denying them straw while demanding the same tale of bricks.

The ten plagues (chapters 7–11)

Because Pharao hardens his heart, God strikes Egypt from Exodus 7 onward: the waters turned to blood, the frogs, the sciniphs (gnats), the flies, the murrain on the cattle, the boils, the hail (chapter 9), the locusts and the darkness (chapter 10). In chapter 11 the last is announced: the death of every firstborn in Egypt.

The Passover and the Red Sea (chapters 12–15)

Exodus 12 institutes the Pasch. Each household slays "a lamb without blemish", marks its doorposts with the blood and eats in haste, "for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord". "And the blood shall be unto you for a sign... and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you." At midnight the firstborn of Egypt die and Pharao lets the people go, the Lord leading them "in a pillar of a cloud" (chapter 13).

Pharao pursues them, but in Exodus 14 "the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up; for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left". Chapter 15 opens with the Canticle of Moses: "Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and the rider he hath thrown into the sea."

The desert: manna and water from the rock (chapters 15–18)

When the people murmur for food, God says in Exodus 16, "Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you", and "the children of Israel ate manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land". In chapter 17 Moses strikes the rock at Horeb and water flows; then Israel fights Amalec, and "when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame". In chapter 18 his father-in-law Jethro counsels him to appoint judges over the people.

The covenant at Sinai and the Ten Commandments (chapters 19–24)

At the mountain God offers His covenant: "you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation" (Exodus 19). Amid thunder and fire He speaks the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, and chapters 21–23 set out the laws that follow. In Exodus 24 Moses reads them to the people from "the book of the covenant" and seals the covenant with the blood of sacrifice.

The tabernacle and the priesthood commanded (chapters 25–31)

"And they shall make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of them" (Exodus 25:8). God gives the pattern of the ark of the covenant, the golden candlestick, the tabernacle and altar (chapters 26–27), the vestments of the high priest (chapter 28) and the consecration of Aaron and his sons (chapter 29). In chapter 31 He gives Moses the two tables of stone, "written with the finger of God".

The golden calf and the renewal of the covenant (chapters 32–34)

Below the mountain the people make a molten calf and cry, "These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 32). Moses breaks the tables and intercedes for the people, and "the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend" (chapter 33). In Exodus 34 God proclaims Himself "merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true", writes the commandments on new tables, and Moses comes down with his face shining; the Vulgate says cornuta, "horned", which is why Christian art gave Moses horns of light.

The tabernacle built and filled with glory (chapters 35–40)

The craftsmen build all as the Lord commanded (chapters 35–39). In Exodus 40 Moses sets up the tabernacle, and the book ends with the cloud covering it and the glory of the Lord filling it. The story continues in Leviticus and Numbers.

The main message of Exodus: themes and the Catholic reading

Exodus teaches that God saves: He hears the cry of the oppressed and keeps His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It teaches that He is holy, revealing His name and His Law. And redemption leads to worship: the book ends not in the Promised Land but at the tabernacle.

St Augustine gave the key to its Catholic reading in his questions on Exodus: in Vetere Novum lateat, et in Novo Vetus pateat: the New lies hidden in the Old, and the Old is made plain in the New. St Paul says of the desert, "all these things happened to them in figure" (1 Corinthians 10:11).

The Passover and the Sacrifice of Christ

The paschal lamb is the clearest figure of Our Lord. St John sees in His unbroken legs on the cross the law of the Pasch fulfilled, "You shall not break a bone of him" (John 19:36, from Exodus 12:46), and St Paul writes, "Christ our pasch is sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). The Council of Trent teaches that at the Last Supper, "having celebrated the ancient Passover, which the multitude of the children of Israel immolated in memory of their going out of Egypt, He instituted the new Passover, (to wit) Himself to be immolated, under visible signs, by the Church" (Session XXII, ch. 1). We follow this thread in the Holy Eucharist and in Easter, whose Latin name, Pascha, is the Pasch of Exodus.

The Red Sea and Baptism

"All in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea" (1 Corinthians 10:2). Tertullian (On Baptism) and St Ambrose (On the Mysteries) teach that Israel saved through the water while Pharao drowns figures the soul freed from sin in the font. So the Church reads the crossing of the Red Sea on the night of Holy Saturday, before blessing the baptismal water.

The manna, the bread from heaven, and the Eucharist

Our Lord took the manna as the figure of Himself: "Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead... I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever" (John 6:49–52). St Ambrose contrasts them: whoever ate the manna died, but whoever eats the Body of Christ shall not die for ever (On the Mysteries 8). Wisdom 16 calls the manna "the food of angels" and "bread from heaven", and Psalm 77 (78) "the bread of angels". At Benediction the priest sings Panem de caelo praestitisti eis, "Thou didst give them bread from heaven", after the Tantum Ergo, and Lauda Sion names the manna among the figures of the Sacrament.

Moses, the covenant and the tabernacle

"The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). St Justin Martyr read Moses' outstretched arms over Amalec as a figure of the Cross (Dialogue with Trypho 90). The blood of the covenant at Sinai is answered by Our Lord's words over the chalice, "This is my blood of the new testament" (Matthew 26:28), and the Epistle to the Hebrews shows in chapters 8–9 that the tabernacle, the high priest and the veil were shadows of Christ's priesthood. At the Transfiguration Moses and Elias spoke of the "decease" Christ would accomplish in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31): in Greek, His exodos.

Our Lady in Exodus

The Church sees the Blessed Virgin in the bush that burned unconsumed, singing to her on the Octave of Christmas: Rubum, quem viderat Moyses incombustum, conservatam agnovimus tuam laudabilem virginitatem, "In the bush which Moses saw unburnt, we acknowledge thy glorious virginity preserved". The Litany of Loreto calls her Foederis arca, Ark of the Covenant, for she bore the Word of God as the ark held the tables of the Law and the golden pot of manna (Hebrews 9:4).

Famous chapters and verses of Exodus

Exodus 3:14, the name of God. "God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you" (Exodus 3).

Exodus 14, the Red Sea. "Fear not: stand and see the great wonders of the Lord... The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace" (Exodus 14:13–14).

Exodus 16, the bread from heaven. "And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: Manhu! which signifieth: What is this! for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them: This is the bread, which the Lord hath given you to eat" (Exodus 16:15).

Exodus 20 and 20:4. "I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me" (Exodus 20:2–3). Verse 4 continues: "Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath". The Catholic numbering, which follows St Augustine, reads this as part of the first commandment: it forbids images made to be adored as gods, not every image, for in the same book God commands two golden cherubim upon the ark (Exodus 25:18). We set out all ten, repeated in Deuteronomy 5, in the Ten Commandments.

Exodus in the canon and in the liturgy

Exodus is the second book of the Bible and of the Pentateuch in Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish and Protestant Bibles alike, and its canonicity has never been questioned. We give St Jerome's Latin, which Trent declared authentic, beside Challoner's English, both explained in the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Latin Vulgate Bible.

The Church reads Exodus above all in Lent. In the Roman Breviary the first-nocturn lessons at Matins pass from Genesis to Exodus on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, beginning with the burning bush. In the 1962 Missal the lesson on the Wednesday after the Third Sunday of Lent is Exodus 20:12–24, and on the Tuesday after the Fourth Sunday, Exodus 32:7–14. On Good Friday the second lesson is Exodus 12:1–11, the law of the paschal lamb. At the Easter Vigil the second prophecy is the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:24–31). The Canticle of Moses is sung at Thursday Lauds in the Roman Breviary.

How to read Exodus

Read chapters 1–20 as a story, in a sitting or two. Take the laws and the tabernacle chapters more slowly, with the Epistle to the Hebrews as their commentary. At a chapter a day, Exodus fills the forty days of Lent, the season in which the Church herself reads it. Begin with Exodus 1, or browse the whole Douay-Rheims Bible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Book of Exodus?

The Church has always received Exodus as the work of Moses, the second of his five books. The text says that Moses wrote the words of the Lord (Exodus 17:14; 24:4), and Our Lord cites the burning bush as "the book of Moses" (Mark 12:26). The Pontifical Biblical Commission (1906) upheld Mosaic authorship while allowing for sources, secretaries and small later additions. Many modern scholars propose later sources, but this is the traditional Catholic teaching.

When was the Book of Exodus written?

Tradition holds that Moses wrote it during the forty years in the desert. Reckoning from 3 Kings 6:1, which places the Exodus 480 years before Solomon's Temple, this was about the fifteenth century before Christ; some Catholic scholars place the Exodus in the thirteenth.

What is the Book of Exodus about?

Exodus tells how God freed the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt through Moses, by the ten plagues, the Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea. It follows them through the desert, where God feeds them with manna, to Mount Sinai, where He gives the Ten Commandments and makes His covenant.

How many chapters are in the Book of Exodus?

Exodus has 40 chapters in the Douay-Rheims, the Vulgate and other Bibles. Chapters 1–15 tell of the deliverance, 15–18 of the journey to Sinai, and 19–40 of the covenant and the tabernacle.

What is the main message of the Book of Exodus?

God hears His people, keeps His promises, and frees them from bondage so that they may worship Him and live by His Law. It figures our redemption: the paschal lamb is Christ, the Red Sea Baptism, the manna the Eucharist (John 6; 1 Corinthians 10).

What is the bread from heaven in the Book of Exodus?

It is the manna, which God rained on the Israelites each morning for forty years in the desert (Exodus 16:4, 35). Its name comes from their question "Manhu?", "What is this?" Our Lord declared Himself the true bread from heaven of which the manna was a figure: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51).

What is the book of the covenant in Exodus 24?

It is the record of the laws God gave at Sinai, which Moses read to the people before sealing the covenant with the blood of sacrifice (Exodus 24:7–8). It is usually identified with the laws of Exodus 20:22–23:33.

What genre is the Book of Exodus?

Exodus is sacred history joined with divine law: narrative, a canticle (chapter 15), genealogy, legal codes and liturgical instructions. The Church reads its narratives as true history, as the Pontifical Biblical Commission taught in 1905, and finds in them a spiritual sense pointing to Christ.

Read the whole Book of Exodus verse by verse, in the Latin of the Vulgate and the English of the Douay-Rheims, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Challoner) and Latin Vulgate: Exodus 1–40; 3 Kings 6:1; Psalm 77 (78); Wisdom 16; Matthew 26:28; Mark 12:26; Luke 9:31; John 1, 6, 19:36; 1 Corinthians 5:7, 10:1–11; Hebrews 8–9. Council of Trent, Session IV (1546); Session XXII (1562), ch. 1. Pontifical Biblical Commission, responses of 23 June 1905 and 27 June 1906. St Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho. Tertullian, On Baptism. St Ambrose, On the Mysteries. St Augustine, Questions on the Heptateuch. St Thomas Aquinas, Lauda Sion. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Exodus" and "Pentateuch". Challoner's notes to the Douay-Rheims. Roman Missal (1962) and Roman Breviary.