The Birth of Moses
1 Now there went a man
from the house of Levi,
and he took a
daughter of Levi.
2 And the woman concieved and bore a son,
and she saw him, that he was good,
and she hid him three months.
3 But she was not able to
hide him anymore,
so
she took for him an ark of papyrus,
and slathered it with slime and pitch,
and set the child in it,
and set it in the reeds
on the bank of the canal.
4 And his sister stood afar off,
to see what would happen to him.
5 Then a daughter of Pharaoh
came down to bathe in the canal,
and her maidens walked
on the bank of the canal.
Then she saw the ark among the reeds,
and she sent her maiden to take it.
6 Then she opened it and saw the child.
And behold, the baby wept,
and she had compassion on him, and said,
"This is one of the children of the Hebrews."
7 Then his sister said
to the daughter of Pharaoh,
"Shall I go and call for you
a nurse from the Hebrew women,
so she can nurse the child for you?"
8 And the daughter of Pharaoh
said to her, "Go."
So the girl went
and called the mother of the child.
9 Then the daughter of Pharaoh 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 Then the child grew,
and she brought him to the daughter of Pharaoh,
and he became her son.
And she called his name Moses, (mosheh)
and said,
"For from the water I drew him." (mashah)
Fleeing Egypt
11 And it happened in those days.
Then Moses grew up,
and went out to his brothers,
and saw their burden.
And he saw an Egyptian man
smiting a Hebrew man,
of his brothers.
12 Then he looked this way and that,
and saw that there was no one,
so he smote the Egyptian
and hid him in the sand.
13 Then he went out on the second day,
and behold, two Hebrew men were fighting,
and he said to the one in the wrong,
"Why do you smite your neighbor?"
14 And he said to him,
"Who made you prince or judge over us?
Do you intend to slay me
as you slew the Egyptian?"
Then Moses feared, and said,
"Surely the word is known,
15 and Pharaoh will hear this word."
And they sought to slay Moses,
so Moses fled from their presence
of
Pharaoh,
and dwelt in the land of Midian,
and dwelt by the well.
16 Now the priest
of Midian
had seven daughters.
And they came and drew,
and filled the troughs,
to water the flock of their father.
17 Then the shepherds came
and drove them off.
But Moses rose up
and saved them,
and watered their flock.
18 Then they came to
Ruel their father,
"How did you come so quickly today?"
19 And they said,
"An Egyptian man
delivered us from the hand of the shepherds,
and also
surely drew for us,
and watered the sheep."
20 So he said to his
daughters,
"Where is he,
why have you abandoned the man like this?
Call to him that he may eat bread."
21 So Moses agreed to dwell with the man.
And he gave Zipporah
his daughter to
Moses.
22 And she bore a son,
and called his name Gershom,
for she said,
"A stranger I have been, (ger)
in a foreign land."
23 And it happened in many days of those.
Then the King of Egypt died,
and the sons of Israel sighed
from their slavery.
And they shrieked,
and their shrieking came up to God
from their slavery.
24 And God heard their groanings.
Then God remembered his covenant,
to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob.
And God saw the sons of Israel,
and God knew.