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Exodus 1
1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one with his household:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;
3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5 All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Joseph was
already in Egypt.
6 Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.
7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and
became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.
8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
9 He said to his people, "Behold,
the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.
10 "Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they
will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land."
11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with
hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out,
so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.
13 The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously;
14 and they made their lives bitter with hard
labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.
15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew
midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah;
16 and he said, "When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the
birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live."
17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the
king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live.
18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and let
the boys live?"
19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the
midwife can get to them."
20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty.
21 Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you are to cast
into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive."
Exodus 2
1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.
2 The
woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.
3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker
basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
4 His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the
Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her.
6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And
she had pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a nurse
for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?"
8 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go ahead." So the girl went and called the
child's mother.
9 Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages." So the woman took
the child and nursed him.
10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, "Because I
drew him out of the water."
11 Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he
saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
12 So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid
him in the sand.
13 He went out the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, "Why are you striking your
companion?"
14 But he said, "Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid
and said, "Surely the matter has become known."
15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and
settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water
their father's flock.
17 Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock.
18 When they came to Reuel
their father, he said, "Why have you come back so soon today?"
19 So they said, "An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and what is
more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock."
20 He said to his daughters, "Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind?
Invite him to have something to eat."
21 Moses was willing to dwell with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.
22 Then she gave birth to a son,
and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land."
23 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of
Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God.
24 So God heard
their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
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