The Exodus

Exodus (often called "the Exodus") is the founding narrative of the Israelites, told across the Pentateuch and centered on the biblical Book of Exodus. It recounts the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt, their deliverance under Moses, the ten plagues, the departure from Egypt, the crossing of the sea, and the giving of the law and covenant at Mount Sinai. **Core narrative.** In the story, the Israelites are forced to build the supply cities of Pithom and Ramesses; Moses, a Hebrew raised in Pharaoh's household, becomes their leader; escalating divine plagues culminate in the death of the firstborn; the Israelites depart and Pharaoh's army drowns; and at Sinai they receive the Ten Commandments and legal codes. **Historicity.** The mainstream academic view is that the narrative is not an accurate historical account of events as described — there is no direct archaeological evidence for a mass exodus, and the text is generally seen as reaching its form well after any events it might echo, likely drawing on accumulated cultural memory and smaller movements of Semitic peoples in and out of Egypt. Traditional datings place it in the 13th–12th centuries BCE, but these are contested. This summary distinguishes scholarly consensus from religious tradition and takes no position on the latter. **Religious significance.** The Exodus is central to Jewish identity and is commemorated in the festival of Passover (Pesach); it is reinterpreted typologically in Christianity, and Moses figures prominently in Islam. Within the narrative, motifs such as "no other gods before me" and the judgments "on all the gods of Egypt" (Exodus 12:12) have been read by scholars as reflecting henotheism or monolatry rather than strict monotheism; see Henotheism and Monolatry in the Biblical Exodus Narrative. The story was famously adapted in the 1998 film The Prince of Egypt.