¹ And these [are] the names of the sons of Israel who are coming into Egypt with Jacob; a man and his household have they come;

² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

⁴ Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

⁵ And all the persons coming out of the thigh of Jacob are seventy persons; as to Joseph, he was in Egypt.

⁶ And Joseph dieth, and all his brethren, and all that generation;

⁷ and the sons of Israel have been fruitful, and they teem, and multiply, and are very very mighty, and the land is filled with them.

⁸ And there riseth a new king over Egypt, who hath not known Joseph,

⁹ and he saith unto his people, `Lo, the people of the sons of Israel [is] more numerous and mighty than we;

¹⁰ give help! let us act wisely concerning it, lest it multiply, and it hath come to pass, when war happeneth, that it hath been joined, even it, unto those hating us, and hath fought against us, and hath gone out up of the land.'

¹¹ And they set over it princes of tribute, so as to afflict it with their burdens, and it buildeth store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses;

¹² and as they afflict it, so it multiplieth, and so it breaketh forth, and they are vexed because of the sons of Israel;

¹³ and the Egyptians cause the sons of Israel to serve with rigour,

¹⁴ and make their lives bitter in hard service, in clay, and in brick, and in every [kind] of service in the field; all their service in which they have served [is] with rigour.

¹⁵ And the king of Egypt speaketh to the midwives, the Hebrewesses, (of whom the name of the one [is] Shiphrah, and the name of the second Puah),

¹⁶ and saith, `When ye cause the Hebrew women to bear, and have looked on the children; if it [is] a son -- then ye have put him to death; and if it [is] a daughter -- then she hath lived.'

¹⁷ And the midwives fear God, and have not done as the king of Egypt hath spoken unto them, and keep the lads alive;

¹⁸ and the king of Egypt calleth for the midwives, and saith to them, `Wherefore have ye done this thing, and keep the lads alive?'

¹⁹ And the midwives say unto Pharaoh, `Because the Hebrew women [are] not as the Egyptian women, for they [are] lively; before the midwife cometh in unto them -- they have borne!'

²⁰ And God doth good to the midwives, and the people multiply, and are very mighty;

²¹ and it cometh to pass, because the midwives have feared God, that He maketh for them households;

²² and Pharaoh layeth a charge on all his people, saying, `Every son who is born -- into the River ye do cast him, and every daughter ye do keep alive.'

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.