By July 3, 2008 Read More →

Exodus 1-4

Dura Europos synagogue wall painting showing the Hebrews leaving Egypt1These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with his household- 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5The total number of persons that were of Jacob’s issue came to seventy, Joseph being already in Egypt. 6Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. 7But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them.

8A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 9And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. 10Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.” 11So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh- Pithom and Raamses. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites.

13The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites 14the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field.

15The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool- if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” 17The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live?” 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women- they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” 20And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and increased greatly. 21And because the midwives feared God, He established households for them. 22Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

2A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. 3When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him.

5The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. 6When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.” 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?” 8And Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moses, explaining, “I drew him out of the water.”

11Some time after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. 12He turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand 13When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting; so he said to the offender, “Why do you strike your fellow?” 14He retorted, “Who made you chief and ruler over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was frightened, and thought- Then the matter is known! 15When Pharaoh learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrived in the land of Midian, and sat down beside a well.

16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock; 17but shepherds came and drove them off. Moses rose to their defense, and he watered their flock. 18When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come back so soon today?” 19They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20He said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why did you leave the man? Ask him in to break bread.” 21Moses consented to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah as wife. 22She bore a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”

23A long time after that, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God. 24God heard their moaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 25God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

3Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. 3Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?” 4When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush- “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” 5And He said, “Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. 6I am,” He said, “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7And the Lord continued, “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their sufferings. 8I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9Now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.”

11But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?” 12And He said, “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”

13Moses said to God, “When I come to the Israelites and say to them ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14And God said to Moses, “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.” He continued, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites, ‘Ehyeh sent me to you.’” 15And God said further to Moses, “Thus shall you speak to the Israelites- The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you-

This shall be My name forever,

This My appellation for all eternity.

16“Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them- the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said, ‘I have taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt, 17and I have declared- I will take you out of the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 18They will listen to you; then you shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, manifested Himself to us. Now therefore, let us go a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ 19Yet I know that the king of Egypt will let you go only because of a greater might. 20So I will stretch out My hand and smite Egypt with various wonders which I will work upon them; after that he shall let you go. 21And I will dispose the Egyptians favorably toward this people, so that when you go, you will not go away empty-handed. 22Each woman shall borrow from her neighbor and the lodger in her house objects of silver and gold, and clothing, and you shall put these on your sons and daughters, thus stripping the Egyptians.”

4But Moses spoke up and said, “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me, but say- The Lord did not appear to you?” 2The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he replied, “A rod.” 3He said, “Cast it on the ground.” He cast it on the ground and it became a snake; and Moses recoiled from it. 4Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grasp it by the tail”—he put out his hand and seized it, and it became a rod in his hand—5“that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, did appear to you.”

6The Lord said to him further, “Put your hand into your bosom.” He put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, his hand was encrusted with snowy scales! 7And He said, “Put your hand back into your bosom.”—He put his hand back into his bosom; and when he took it out of his bosom, there it was again like the rest of his body.—8“And if they do not believe you or pay heed to the first sign, they will believe the second. 9And if they are not convinced by both these signs and still do not heed you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and it—the water that you take from the Nile—will turn to blood on the dry ground.”

10But Moses said to the Lord, “Please, O Lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11And the Lord said to him, “Who gives man speech? Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12Now go, and I will be with you as you speak and will instruct you what to say.” 13But he said, “Please, O Lord, make someone else Your agent.” The Lord became angry with Moses, and He said, “There is your brother Aaron the Levite. He, I know, speaks readily. Even now he is setting out to meet you, and he will be happy to see you. 15You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth—I will be with you and with him as you speak, and tell both of you what to do—16and he shall speak for you to the people. Thus he shall serve as your spokesman, with you playing the role of God to him, 17And take with you this rod, with which you shall perform the signs.”

18Moses went back to his father-in-law Jether and said to him, “Let me go back to my kinsmen in Egypt and see how they are faring.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

19The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” 20So Moses took his wife and sons, mounted them on an ass, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God with him.

21And the Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the marvels that I have put within your power. I, however, will stiffen his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord- Israel is My first-born son. 23I have said to you, “Let My son go, that he may worship Me,” yet you refuse to let him go. Now I will slay your first-born son.’”

24At a night encampment on the way, the Lord encountered him and sought to kill him. 25 So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his legs with it, saying, “You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26And when He let him alone, she added, “A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.”

27The Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” He went and met him at the mountain of God, and he kissed him. 28Moses told Aaron about all the things that the Lord had committed to him and all the signs about which He had instructed him. 29Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. 30Aaron repeated all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and he performed the signs in the sight of the people, 31and the people were convinced. When they heard that the Lord had taken note of the Israelites and that He had seen their plight, they bowed low in homage.

Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem- Jewish Publication Society) 1985.

Posted in: Israel in Egypt

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