The Israelites Oppressed

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel^(A) who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; ³ Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; ⁴ Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.^{(B) 5} The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy^[a] in all;^(C) Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,^{(D) 7} but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers^(E) and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.^{(F) 9} “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous^(G) for us.^{(H) 10} Come, we must deal shrewdly^(I) with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”^(J)

¹¹ So they put slave masters^(K) over them to oppress them with forced labor,^(L) and they built Pithom and Rameses^(M) as store cities^(N) for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly.^{(O) 14} They made their lives bitter with harsh labor^(P) in brick^(Q) and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.^(R)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,^(S) whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”^{(T) 17} The midwives, however, feared^(U) God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do;^(V) they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”^(W)

²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives^(X) and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared^(Y) God, he gave them families^(Z) of their own.

²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile,^(AA) but let every girl live.”^(AB)

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man of the tribe of Levi^(AC) married a Levite woman,^{(AD) 2} and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine^(AE) child, she hid him for three months.^{(AF) 3} But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus^(AG) basket^[b] for him and coated it with tar and pitch.^(AH) Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds^(AI) along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister^(AJ) stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.^(AK) She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. ⁶ She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷ Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named^(AL) him Moses,^[c] saying, “I drew^(AM) him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people^(AN) were and watched them at their hard labor.^(AO) He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”^(AP)

¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?^(AQ) Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill^(AR) Moses, but Moses fled^(AS) from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,^(AT) where he sat down by a well. ¹⁶ Now a priest of Midian^(AU) had seven daughters, and they came to draw water^(AV) and fill the troughs^(AW) to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue^(AX) and watered their flock.^(AY)

¹⁸ When the girls returned to Reuel^(AZ) their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹ They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”^(BA)

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah^(BB) to Moses in marriage. ²² Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,^[d](BC) saying, “I have become a foreigner^(BD) in a foreign land.”

²³ During that long period,^(BE) the king of Egypt died.^(BF) The Israelites groaned in their slavery^(BG) and cried out, and their cry^(BH) for help because of their slavery went up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning and he remembered^(BI) his covenant^(BJ) with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵ So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned^(BK) about them.