¹ POI Giacobbe alzò gli occhi, e riguardò; ed ecco Esaù veniva, menando seco quattrocent’uomini. Ed egli spartì i fanciulli in tre schiere, sotto Lea, sotto Rachele, e sotto le due serve.

² E mise le serve e i lor figliuoli davanti; e Lea e i suoi figliuoli appresso; e Rachele e Giuseppe gli ultimi.

³ Ed egli passò davanti a loro, e s’inchinò sette volte a terra, finchè fu presso al suo fratello.

⁴ Ed Esaù gli corse incontro, e l’abbracciò, e gli si gittò al collo, e lo baciò; ed amendue piansero.

⁵ Ed Esaù alzò gli occhi, e vide quelle donne e que’ fanciulli, e disse: Che ti son costoro? E Giacobbe disse: Sono i fanciulli che Iddio ha donati al tuo servitore.

⁶ E le serve si accostarono, coi loro figliuoli, e s’inchinarono.

⁷ Poi Lea si accostò, co’ suoi figliuoli, e s’inchinarono. Poi si accostò Giuseppe e Rachele, e si inchinarono.

⁸ Ed Esaù disse a Giacobbe: Che vuoi far di tutta quell’oste che io ho scontrata? Ed egli disse: Io l’ho mandata per trovar grazia appo il mio signore.

⁹ Ed Esaù disse: Io ne ho assai, fratel mio; tienti per te ciò ch’è tuo.

¹⁰ Ma Giacobbe disse: Deh! no; se ora io ho trovato grazia appo te, prendi dalla mia mano il mio presente; conciossiachè per ciò io abbia veduta la tua faccia, il che mi è stato come se avessi veduta la faccia di Dio; e tu mi hai gradito.

¹¹ Deh! prendi il mio presente che ti è stato condotto; perciocchè Iddio mi è stato liberal donatore, ed io ho di tutto. E gli fece forza, sì ch’egli lo prese.

¹² Poi Esaù disse: Partiamoci, ed andiamocene; ed io ti accompagnerò.

¹³ Ma Giacobbe gli disse: Ben riconosce il mio signore che questi fanciulli son teneri; ed io ho le mie pecore e le mie vacche pregne; e se sono spinte innanzi pure un giorno, tutta la greggia morrà.

¹⁴ Deh! passi il mio signore davanti al suo servitore, ed io mi condurrò pian piano, al passo di questo bestiame ch’è davanti a me, e di questi fanciulli, finchè io arrivi al mio signore in Seir.

¹⁵ Ed Esaù disse: Deh! lascia che io faccia restar teco della gente ch’è meco. Ma Giacobbe disse: Perchè questo? lascia che io ottenga questa grazia dal mio signore.

¹⁶ Esaù adunque in quel dì se ne ritornò verso Seir, per lo suo cammino.

¹⁷ E Giacobbe partì, e venne in Succot, e si edificò una casa, e fece delle capanne per lo suo bestiame; perciò pose nome a quel luogo Succot.

¹⁸ Poi Giacobbe arrivò sano e salvo nella città di Sichem, nel paese di Canaan, tornando di Paddan-aram; e tese i suoi padiglioni davanti alla città.

¹⁹ E comperò da’ figliuoli d’Hemor, padre di Sichem, per cento pezze di moneta, la parte del campo, ove avea tesi i suoi padiglioni.

²⁰ E rizzò un altare, e lo nominò Iddio, l’Iddio d’Israele.

¹ A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.

² The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

³ When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.

⁴ His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

⁵ Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.

⁶ She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should 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." The maiden went and called the child's mother.

⁹ Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.

¹⁰ The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

¹¹ It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

¹² He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

¹³ He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"

¹⁴ He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

¹⁵ Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶ Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

¹⁷ 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, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"

¹⁹ They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."

²⁰ He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."

²¹ Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.

²² She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."

²³ It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

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

²⁵ God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.