This Exodus chapter-by-chapter summary uses the Chapter By Chapter approach: brief summaries, meaning in context, and a key verse for each chapter.
This volume walks through the book of Exodus, helping you follow how God rescues his people and comes to dwell among them so you can understand the roots of worship and covenant life.
At a GlancePermalink
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Genre
- Law / narrative
- Chapters
- 40
What Exodus Is About
Exodus tells how God delivers Israel from Egypt, forms them as his covenant people, and comes to dwell among them through the tabernacle.
Outline of Exodus
Chapter IndexPermalink
- Exodus 1
- Exodus 2
- Exodus 3
- Exodus 4
- Exodus 5
- Exodus 6
- Exodus 7
- Exodus 8
- Exodus 9
- Exodus 10
- Exodus 11
- Exodus 12
- Exodus 13
- Exodus 14
- Exodus 15
- Exodus 16
- Exodus 17
- Exodus 18
- Exodus 19
- Exodus 20
- Exodus 21
- Exodus 22
- Exodus 23
- Exodus 24
- Exodus 25
- Exodus 26
- Exodus 27
- Exodus 28
- Exodus 29
- Exodus 30
- Exodus 31
- Exodus 32
- Exodus 33
- Exodus 34
- Exodus 35
- Exodus 36
- Exodus 37
- Exodus 38
- Exodus 39
- Exodus 40
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Chapter SummariesPermalink
Exodus 1
What happens
Israel continues to multiply in Egypt. A new king, who had forgotten Joseph, arises and worries about Israel’s population. He enslaves them, instructs their midwives to kill infant boys, and eventually attempts genocide.
Why it matters
The first verses of Exodus make clear that it is a continuation of Genesis, not a new story. The Israelites’ faith in God strengthened them to reject Pharaoh’s order. Not the first genocide attempted against Israel.
Key verse
Exodus 1:8
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
Exodus 2
What happens
Moses is born. His mother sets him in a basket on the river, where Pharaoh’s daughter finds and raises him. When he grows up, Moses kills an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite. He flees to Midian, marries Zipporah, and has a son.
Why it matters
All the people opposing Pharaoh are women: the Hebrew midwives, Moses’s mother and sister, and Pharaoh’s daughter. Moses’s miraculous upbringing foreshadows his miraculous deliverance of Egypt.
Key verse
Exodus 2:10
When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
Exodus 3
What happens
God appears to Moses in the burning bush and tells him to bring Israel out of Egypt. God names Himself. God promises to bring Israel out of Egypt with miracles and wonders.
Why it matters
God commits to Moses the promise He had made to Abraham to bring them back out of Egypt. Moses tries twice to get out of it, bu God promises to overcome his weakness.
Key verse
Exodus 3:10
“Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Exodus 4
What happens
God shows Moses His power by turning his staff into a serpent and back and turning his hand leprous and back. He responds to Moses’s final objection by giving him Aaron as a spokesperson. God says He will harden Pharaoh’s heart. Moses returns to Egypt.
Why it matters
God answers all of Moses’s objections with expressions of power. God didn’t call Moses, and doesn’t call you, because of who you are, but because of who God is. He hardens Pharaoh’s heart so that all might know His power.
Key verse
Exodus 4:12
“Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
Exodus 5
What happens
Pharaoh rejects Moses’s request to go into the desert and worship. He makes the Hebrews gather their own straw for bricks, but doesn’t reduce the quota. The people blame Moses and Aaron. Moses complains to God.
Why it matters
The Israelites have to leave Egypt to worship because their sacrifices were abomination to Egyptians. Pharaoh calls Moses’s and Aaron’s demand to “let my people go” “vain words.” God will prove him wrong.
Key verse
Exodus 5:1
Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’”
Exodus 6
What happens
God sends Moses to the Israelites to proclaim salvation and God’s covenant despite Pharaoh. They don’t listen. God reminds Moses he still needs to bring them out, even if they complain. The genealogy of Aaron and Moses. Moses complains yet again about his speech.
Why it matters
The patriarchs knew God, but not like Moses will show the people, as the redeemer of His people. Moses and Aaron are from the tribe of Levi, the tribe that later became the priesthood and temple workers.
Key verse
Exodus 6:1
But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
Exodus 7
What happens
God promises to harden Pharaoh’s heart to demonstrate His power. Aaron shows the rod-serpent miracle, and the Egyptian magicians copy it (but Aaron’s rod swallows theirs). God turns the Nile and all other water to blood, but the magicians copy it, so Pharaoh is not swayed.
Why it matters
The turning of the water in wood and stone vessels makes any natural explanation of the plague of blood impossible: this was a miracle. The Nile is the lifeblood of Egypt, now incapable of giving life.
Key verse
Exodus 7:20
Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.
Exodus 8
What happens
The plague of frogs (copied by the magicians), the plague of gnats (not copied), the plague of flies (only on Egyptians). Pharaoh agrees to let the Israelites go if Moses takes away the flies. God takes them away, and Pharaoh changes his mind.
Why it matters
All the frogs on land died, but all the frogs in the river lived, showing that the frogs’ appearance and death were not natural, but supernatural. Similarly, God clearly shows His power by sending flies on only Egyptians.
Key verse
Exodus 8:22
“But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.”
Exodus 9
What happens
The plague on livestock spares the Israelite livestock. The plague of boils spares the Israelites. The plague of hail and fire kills all the Egyptian grain, but not the Israelite grain. Pharaoh sees his sin, but stays the course.
Why it matters
The death of livestock and grain was devastating to Egypt, but God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to ensure that God’s total power would be known forever.
Key verse
Exodus 9:34
But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
Exodus 10
What happens
The plague of locusts eats up everything the hail left behind. Pharaoh tries to send just the Israelite men away, but God sends the plague. The plague of darkness covers Egypt, but not Israel.
Why it matters
God does not claim men only, but every person who is his, and all their possessions and resources, too. He will leave not the least of these behind in Egypt or anywhere else.
Key verse
Exodus 10:9
Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
Exodus 11
What happens
God tells the Israelites to request gifts from their Egyptian neighbors. Moses informs Pharaoh of the coming tenth plague, the killing of the firstborn. It will pass over the Israelites. He predicts that Pharaoh will force them out afterward.
Why it matters
The final plague shows most powerfully God’s power and his judgment: all Egyptian firstborns will be killed, and all Israelite firstborns will be spared. Not only is it tragic, but it will wreak havoc on Egyptian society.
Key verse
Exodus 11:7
“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.””
Exodus 12
What happens
God institutes the Hebrew calendar and the passover. It is a meal of roasted lamb or goat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, eaten ready to travel. God kills all the Egyptian firstborns, and Israel leaves Egypt.
Why it matters
The passover becomes a symbol of God’s mercy and power, and its laws lead us to the greatest passover of all, the Last Supper, where the firstborn of all creation, Jesus, is Himself the sacrifice.
Key verse
Exodus 12:51
And on that very day the LORD brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
Exodus 13
What happens
God claims all the firstborn of Israel, man and beast. Moses gives instructions for the passover and the dedication of the firstborn. Moses brings the bones of Joseph. God leads the Israelites by pillars of fire and smoke.
Why it matters
Since God spared the firstborn of Israel in the tenth plague, He now claims them all as His own. Moses brings Joseph back up out of Egypt as a final fulfillment of God’s promise not to leave them there.
Key verse
Exodus 13:2
“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.”The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Exodus 14
What happens
God turns the Israelites back to meet the pursuing Egyptians. Moses parts the sea, and God drowns the Egyptian chariots in it.
Why it matters
The Egyptians still haven’t gotten the message of God’s sovereignty and claim on the Israelites. They pursue, so God turns the Israelites back to show once again His power over all creation.
Key verse
Exodus 14:4
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
Exodus 15
What happens
The song of Moses recounts the destruction of the Egyptian army and the Israelites’ rescue through the sea. The song of Miriam echoes it. God turns the bitter water at Marah sweet.
Why it matters
In this chapter, we have access to a millennia-old worship song, connecting our worship every week to theirs before Israel became a nation. What are we singing today that will be around three or four thousand years from now?
Key verse
Exodus 15:21
And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”Bitter Water Made Sweet
Exodus 16
What happens
God gives the Israelites manna to eat in the wilderness. He confirms the Sabbath day by not providing manna for them to gather on it. Aaron gathers some manna for the tabernacle. The people survive on manna until they get to Canaan.
Why it matters
Few stories elicit the truth of “God will provide” more strongly than this, where an entire nation wandered a wilderness for forty years, and God provided food six days a week, every week, for the entire duration.
Key verse
Exodus 16:30
So the people rested on the seventh day.
Exodus 17
What happens
The Israelites complain about the lack of water, and Moses strikes the rock to produce water. Israel, under Joshua’s command, defeats the Amalekites; while Moses’s hands are held in the air, they are victorious.
Why it matters
God recently tested the Israelites with the manna; now they test him. They quarrel with Moses, and through him, God. God continues to provide them not only water but victory over their enemies, showing that He is sufficient for them.
Key verse
Exodus 17:3
But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
Exodus 18
What happens
Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, suggests to Moses a system of judges, so Moses does not spend all his time adjudicating disputes.
Why it matters
Unlike the Amalekites, the Midianites (represented by Jethro) acknowledge God’s power. Moses listens to wisdom rather than hoarding power. He sets up a new system of government, moving Israel that much closer to becoming a nation.
Key verse
Exodus 18:23
“If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”
Exodus 19
What happens
Israel encamps at Sinai (they won’t leave again until the end of Exodus). God promises, in exchange for obedience, to make them “his treasured possession.” The people agree, and God comes down to Sinai to make the covenant with Moses.
Why it matters
This chapter begins the formation of the Mosaic covenant, and it bears the same symbols as Abraham’s: fire and smoke. God had promised Moses on his way into Egypt that Israel would worship on the same mountain on the way out.
Key verse
Exodus 19:5
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine”
Exodus 20
What happens
God gives the Ten Commandments, the basic outline of the covenant between Him and Israel: love and honor God above all others, forsaking all other gods; honor the Sabbath; honor your father, mother, and neighbors. God sets out initial rules for altars.
Why it matters
The structure of the Ten Commandments is the same as other ancient covenants: identify the king, give the history of the relationship, and set out the stipulations of the covenant. The order of the commandments reflects God’s priorities for us.
Key verse
Exodus 20:2
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
Exodus 21
What happens
God gives laws about servants, who be treated well and released after six years. He distinguishes premeditated murder from manslaughter. He initiates the right of sanctuary.
Why it matters
God’s laws indicate His values of justice—punishments must fit the crime—and the sanctity and value of life—taking a life is punished harshly, and the death penalty is applied sparingly. He expects us to treat others the way He treats us.
Key verse
Exodus 21:1
“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.”
Exodus 22
What happens
God continues giving the laws of the covenant, including laws about property rights; respecting defenseless people like foreigners, widows, orphans, and the poor; and offerings to God.
Why it matters
God’s concern for the defenseless continues throughout all of Scripture, magnified by Jesus’s particular compassion. Property rights are enforced, but protections are given against abuse of the law to justify abuse of people.
Key verse
Exodus 22:22
“You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.”
Exodus 23
What happens
God continues giving the laws of the covenant, including justice in lawsuits, keeping the Sabbath of the week and of the land, and keeping the three appointed feasts. God promises to drive out the current inhabitants of Canaan and bless the Israelites there.
Why it matters
Verses 1–9 expound on the commandment not to bear false witness. The Feast of Harvest/Weeks becomes Pentecost, which gains new significance in Acts. God has prepared Canaan for the Israelites; Jesus has likewise prepared a place for us in His Father’s house.
Key verse
Exodus 23:20
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.”
Exodus 24
What happens
God calls Moses and the elders of Israel up to Sinai to worship. The people agree to the covenant Moses wrote down and read to them, and Moses consecrates the covenant with sacrifice. The elders eat a covenant meal in God’s presence. God calls Moses further up.
Why it matters
Moses does not consecrate the people until they know and agree to the words of the covenant. The covenant meal with Moses and the elders foreshadows the Last Supper, where blood is again made a symbol of the covenant. Moses and Jesus both fast for forty days.
Key verse
Exodus 24:3
Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”
Exodus 25
What happens
God commands Moses to take an offering from the people and make the ark of the covenant and its cherubim, the table for the bread and its utensils, and the golden lampstand and its lamps and utensils. God shows him the pattern for all of these things.
Why it matters
Blue, purple, and scarlet, the yarn of the offering, are royal colors. Linen is the royal cloth of Egypt. The tabernacle is where God dwells with His people, so its materials must be fit for the king of kings. The ark is symbolic of God’s throne.
Key verse
Exodus 25:40
“And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.”
Exodus 26
What happens
God details the plans and coverings of the tabernacle, the holy place, and the most holy place, including its materials (gold, silver, bronze, linen, ram skin, and goat skin), its dimensions, and its construction with wooden frames set in metal bases.
Why it matters
The tabernacle contains a representative throne room for God guarded by cherubim (probably a flying sphinx-like creature) and an antechamber separated by a veil. The interior has bread and light, like a human home.
Key verse
Exodus 26:30
“Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.”
Exodus 27
What happens
God details the plans of the altar of burnt offerings and the courtyard around the tabernacle. He commands Moses to keep the lamp burning every night.
Why it matters
The horns of the altar symbolize both power for atonement and, later, refuge. The utensils for the inner altar, closer to the throne room, were gold; the utensils for this outer altar are bronze.
Key verse
Exodus 27:1
“You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits.”
Exodus 28
What happens
The design of the garments for the high priest, made from fine linen in royal colors. Also two onyx stones with the names of the tribes and twelve precious gems to symbolize the tribes and bells on the hem of the robe.
Why it matters
The priest’s garments symbolize his dual nature: the same royal colors and gold of the tabernacle represent God; the names of the tribes represent the people of God; and pomegranates represent the garden of Eden, the place of God.
Key verse
Exodus 28:2
“And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.”
Exodus 29
What happens
The consecration ritual for priests involves sacrificing a bull as a sin offering, a ram as a burnt offering, and flour. The priests are marked with the blood of the sacrifice. Consecrating the priests and the altar will take seven days of sacrifices.
Why it matters
The consecration ritual begins the daily morning and evening sacrifices that Israel will continue forever. The sacrifices atone for the sins of the priests in particular and sanctify the tabernacle for God to meet with His people.
Key verse
Exodus 29:44
“I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests.”
Exodus 30
What happens
The design of the incense altar, covered in gold. The collection of offerings for the tabernacle. The design of a basin to wash in. The recipe for the anointing oil (which includes myrrh) and the spiced perfume (which includes frankincense).
Why it matters
The incense symbolizes the prayers of the people and the priests. The mixtures for the oil and perfume are unique to the priests and the tabernacle.
Key verse
Exodus 30:1
“You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.”
Exodus 31
What happens
God appoints Bezalel and Oholiab as master craftsmen to oversee the construction of the tabernacle, the instruments, and the courtyard. God repeats the commandment to keep the sabbath as a sign of the covenant.
Why it matters
God has provided strict requirements for the tabernacle, but He has also satisfied those requirements. The sabbath is a very visible covenant sign that distinguishes Israel from its neighbors not occasionally but every week.
Key verse
Exodus 31:17
“It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”
Exodus 32
What happens
Aaron makes a golden calf for Israel to worship and offers burnt offerings to it. God tells Moses He will kill them for it, but Moses convinces Him otherwise. Moses and Joshua go down the mountain, break the tablets, destroy the calf, and kill 3,000 of the worshipers.
Why it matters
We were made to worship, but there is only One who is worthy. When we worship anything else God’s wrath is justice. The Levites’ service in killing the blasphemers earned them the position of caretakers of the tabernacle and aides to the priests.
Key verse
Exodus 32:35
Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
Exodus 33
What happens
God sends the Israelites to Canaan and promises to drive out its inhabitants before them, but He will not Himself go with them. Moses asks for His presence not to depart, however briefly. Moses prays to see God’s glory, and God agrees to let Moses see a small part.
Why it matters
God goes with us despite our failings. Moses was an effective mediator between God and man—how much more effective must Jesus be! Moses asks to see God’s glory, and he will in the next chapter, but his prayer foreshadows the night with him and Elijah and Jesus.
Key verse
Exodus 33:15
And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.”
Exodus 34
What happens
Moses makes two more tablets and takes them up the mountain. God passes before him to show him His glory. Moses prayes for forgiveness, and God renews His covenant, repeating His commands. Moses returns down the mountain with his face shining.
Why it matters
God proclaims His own nature when He passes by Moses: “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” Moses’s forty-day fast again foreshadows Jesus’s fasting in the wilderness. His face reflects God’s radiance.
Key verse
Exodus 34:27
And the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
Exodus 35
What happens
Moses reminds the people of the Sabbath laws. He takes up the offering for the materials to make the priests’ clothes and construct the tabernacle and courtyard. The people give an offering both of materials and of time and skill.
Why it matters
The people are reminded of the Sabbath laws every time Moses talks about the tabernacle; Sabbath rest and worship are intimately connected. The work of the tabernacle is directed by God but taken up by the entire nation of Israel.
Key verse
Exodus 35:29
All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the LORD had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the LORD.
Exodus 36
What happens
The people bring more than enough for the tabernacle, so Moses stops collecting. The craftsmen make the curtains and frames for the tabernacle and the veil as God specified to Moses.
Why it matters
In response to God’s commission and inspired by God’s Spirit, the people bring more than enough for the work, and those God has gifted offer their time and talents to bring it to completion. So all faithful answer God’s call to do His work for His glory.
Key verse
Exodus 36:2
And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.
Exodus 37
What happens
The craftsmen complete the furniture for the tabernacle: the ark, the mercy seat, the altar, the lampstand, and all the utensils. They also make the oil and the incense as directed.
Why it matters
God provided an extraordinary combination of materials (including spices and incense) and craftsmen (including carpenters, metalworkers, engravers, weavers, embroiderers, tanners, leatherworkers, and perfumers) to complete the work of the tabernacle.
Key verse
Exodus 37:1
Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.
Exodus 38
What happens
The craftsmen make the larger altar and its utensils, the bronze basin, and the courtyard of the tabernacle. An accounting of the weights used: almost 30 talents of gold, more than 100 talents of silver, and 70 talents of bronze.
Why it matters
The silver offering was exactly half a shekel per person, showing that every member of the fledgling nation contributed to the glory of the tabernacle. The incredible weights—tons of each metal—demonstrate God’s preparation even as they fled Egypt.
Key verse
Exodus 38:25
The silver from those of the congregation who were recorded was a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary
Exodus 39
What happens
The making of the garments for Aaron and the priests, including thread made of hammered gold. The completion and final inventory of the elements of the tabernacle. Moses blesses the craftsmen for their work.
Why it matters
When Moses inspects and blesses the tabernacle after it’s completed, we are reminded of God’s inspection and blessing of Creation after He completes it. In both cases, God has built a space where He intends to dwell with His people.
Key verse
Exodus 39:43
And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.
Exodus 40
What happens
Moses erects the tabernacle, screens off the ark of the testimony with the veil, sets up the holy place, burns incense, offers sacrifices, and presents and anoints the priests. God’s glory fills the completed tabernacle so completely even Moses cannot enter.
Why it matters
For the first time since Genesis 3, God once again dwells with His people, this time in a house whose construction He directed. The epilogue shows that the people literally followed God during their wanderings, and He made His presence known day and night.
Key verse
Exodus 40:38
For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.
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