1 And these are the names of the sons of Israel who had come into Egypt; with Jacob had they come, each with his household:

² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

⁴ Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

⁵ And all the souls that had come out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; and Joseph was in Egypt.

⁶ And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

⁷ And the children of Israel were fruitful, and swarmed and multiplied, and became exceeding strong; and the land was full of them.

⁸ And there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

⁹ And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we.

¹⁰ Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that, if war occur, they take side with our enemies and fight against us, and go up out of the land.

¹¹ And they set over them service-masters to oppress them with their burdens. And they built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses.

¹² But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and spread; and they were distressed because of the children of Israel.

¹³ And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with harshness;

¹⁴ and they embittered their life with hard labour in clay and bricks, and in all manner of labour in the field: all their labour with which they made them serve was with harshness.

¹⁵ And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives—of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other was Puah—

¹⁶ and he said, When ye help the Hebrew women in bearing, and see [them] on the stool, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if a daughter, then she shall live.

¹⁷ But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt had said to them, but saved the male children alive.

¹⁸ And the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, Why have ye done this, and saved the male children alive?

¹⁹ And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian; for they are strong, and they have borne before the midwife comes to them.

²⁰ And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.

²¹ And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

²² Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, but every daughter ye shall save alive.

2 And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi.

² And the woman conceived, and bore a son. And she saw him that he was fair, and hid him three months.

³ And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of reeds, and plastered it with resin and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid [it] in the sedge on the bank of the river.

⁴ And his sister stood afar off to see what would happen to him.

⁵ And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the river; and her maids went along by the river's side. And she saw the ark in the midst of the sedge, and sent her handmaid and fetched it.

⁶ And she opened [it], and saw the child, and behold, the boy wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is [one] of the Hebrews' children.

⁷ And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a wet-nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

⁸ And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the damsel went and called the child's mother.

⁹ And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give [thee] thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it.

¹⁰ And when the child was grown, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water.

¹¹ And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

¹² And he turned this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

¹³ And he went out on the second day, and behold, two Hebrew men were quarrelling; and he said to him that was in the wrong, Why art thou smiting thy neighbour?

¹⁴ And he said, Who made thee ruler and judge over us? dost thou intend to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? Then Moses feared, and said, Surely the matter is known.

¹⁵ And Pharaoh heard of this matter, and sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat by the well.

¹⁶ And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew [water], and filled the troughs, to water their father's flock.

¹⁷ And the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses rose and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸ And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, Why are ye come so soon to-day?

¹⁹ And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew [water] abundantly for us, and watered the flock.

²⁰ And he said to his daughters, And where is he? why then have ye left the man behind? Call him, that he may eat bread.

²¹ And Moses consented to remain with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

²² And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

²³ And it came to pass during those many days, that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and cried; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage;

²⁴ and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob;

²⁵ and God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged [them].