The Israelites Are Treated Cruelly in Egypt

¹The sons of Jacob who went to Egypt with him, each with his family, were

²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,

³Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,

⁴Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

⁵The total number of these people directly descended from Jacob was seventy. His son Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶In the course of time Joseph, his brothers, and all the rest of that generation died,

⁷but their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and became so numerous and strong that Egypt was filled with them.

⁸Then, a new king, who knew nothing about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

⁹He said to his people, “These Israelites are so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us.

¹⁰In case of war they might join our enemies in order to fight against us, and might escape from the country. We must find some way to keep them from becoming even more numerous.”

¹¹So the Egyptians put slave drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labor. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centers for the king.

¹²But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number and the farther they spread through the land. The Egyptians came to fear the Israelites

^13-14and made their lives miserable by forcing them into cruel slavery. They made them work on their building projects and in their fields, and they had no pity on them.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to Shiphrah and Puah, the two midwives who helped the Hebrew women.

¹⁶“When you help the Hebrew women give birth,” he said to them, “kill the baby if it is a boy; but if it is a girl, let it live.”

¹⁷But the midwives were God-fearing and so did not obey the king; instead, they let the boys live.

¹⁸So the king sent for the midwives and asked them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the boys live?”

¹⁹They answered, “The Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they give birth easily, and their babies are born before either of us gets there.”

^20-21Because the midwives were God-fearing, God was good to them and gave them families of their own. And the Israelites continued to increase and become strong.

²²Finally the king issued a command to all his people: “Take every newborn Hebrew boy and throw him into the Nile, but let all the girls live.”

The Birth of Moses

¹During this time a man from the tribe of Levi married a woman of his own tribe,

²and she bore him a son. When she saw what a fine baby he was, she hid him for three months.

³But when she could not hide him any longer, she took a basket made of reeds and covered it with tar to make it watertight. She put the baby in it and then placed it in the tall grass at the edge of the river.

⁴The baby's sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him.

⁵The king's daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her servants walked along the bank. Suddenly she noticed the basket in the tall grass and sent a slave woman to get it.

⁶The princess opened it and saw a baby boy. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷Then his sister asked her, “Shall I go and call a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸“Please do,” she answered. So the girl went and brought the baby's own mother.

⁹The princess told the woman, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So she took the baby and nursed him.

¹⁰Later, when the child was old enough, she took him to the king's daughter, who adopted him as her own son. She said to herself, “I pulled him out of the water, and so I name him Moses.”

Moses Escapes to Midian

¹¹When Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his people, the Hebrews, and he saw how they were forced to do hard labor. He even saw an Egyptian kill a Hebrew, one of Moses' own people.

¹²Moses looked all around, and when he saw that no one was watching, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

¹³The next day he went back and saw two Hebrew men fighting. He said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why are you beating up a fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴The man answered, “Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me just as you killed that Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said to himself, “People have found out what I have done.”

^15-16When the king heard about what had happened, he tried to have Moses killed, but Moses fled and went to live in the land of Midian. One day, when Moses was sitting by a well, seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, came to draw water and fill the troughs for their father's sheep and goats.

¹⁷But some shepherds drove Jethro's daughters away. Then Moses went to their rescue and watered their animals for them.

¹⁸When they returned to their father, he asked, “Why have you come back so early today?”

¹⁹“An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they answered, “and he even drew water for us and watered our animals.”

²⁰“Where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why did you leave the man out there? Go and invite him to eat with us.”

²¹So Moses decided to live there, and Jethro gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage,

²²who bore him a son. Moses said to himself, “I am a foreigner in this land, and so I name him Gershom.”

²³Years later the king of Egypt died, but the Israelites were still groaning under their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry went up to God,

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

²⁵He saw the slavery of the Israelites and was concerned for them.

Sacrifices Burned Whole

¹The Lord called to Moses from the Tent of the Lord's presence and gave him the following rules

²for the Israelites to observe when they offer their sacrifices. When you offer an animal sacrifice, it may be one of your cattle or one of your sheep or goats.

³If you are offering one of your cattle as a burnt offering, you must bring a bull without any defects. You must present it at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence so that the Lord will accept you.

⁴You shall put your hand on its head, and it will be accepted as a sacrifice to take away your sins.

⁵You shall kill the bull there, and the Aaronite priests shall present the blood to the Lord and then throw it against all four sides of the altar located at the entrance of the Tent.

⁶Then you shall skin the animal and cut it up,

⁷and the priests shall arrange firewood on the altar and light it.

⁸They shall put on the fire the pieces of the animal, including the head and the fat.

⁹You must wash the internal organs and the hind legs, and the officiating priest will burn the whole sacrifice on the altar. The odor of this food offering is pleasing to the Lord.

¹⁰If you are offering one of your sheep or goats, it must be a male without any defects.

¹¹You shall kill it on the north side of the altar, and the priests shall throw its blood on all four sides of the altar.

¹²After you cut it up, the officiating priest shall put on the fire all the parts, including the head and the fat.

¹³You must wash the internal organs and the hind legs, and the priest will present the sacrifice to the Lord and burn all of it on the altar. The odor of this food offering is pleasing to the Lord.

¹⁴If you are offering a bird as a burnt offering, it must be a dove or a pigeon.

¹⁵The priest shall present it at the altar, wring its neck, and burn its head on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out against the side of the altar.

¹⁶He shall remove the crop and its contents and throw them away on the east side of the altar where the ashes are put.

¹⁷He shall take hold of its wings and tear its body open, without tearing the wings off, and then burn it whole on the altar. The odor of this food offering is pleasing to the Lord.

A Prayer for Protection

¹With our own ears we have heard it, O God— our ancestors have told us about it, about the great things you did in their time, in the days of long ago:

²how you yourself drove out the heathen and established your people in their land; how you punished the other nations and caused your own to prosper.

³Your people did not conquer the land with their swords; they did not win it by their own power; it was by your power and your strength, by the assurance of your presence, which showed that you loved them.

⁴You are my king and my God; you give victory to your people,

⁵and by your power we defeat our enemies.

⁶I do not trust in my bow or in my sword to save me;

⁷but you have saved us from our enemies and defeated those who hate us.

⁸We will always praise you and give thanks to you forever.

⁹But now you have rejected us and let us be defeated; you no longer march out with our armies.

¹⁰You made us run from our enemies, and they took for themselves what was ours.

¹¹You allowed us to be slaughtered like sheep; you scattered us in foreign countries.

¹²You sold your own people for a small price as though they had little value.

¹³Our neighbors see what you did to us, and they mock us and laugh at us.

¹⁴You have made us a joke among the nations; they shake their heads at us in scorn.

¹⁵I am always in disgrace; I am covered with shame

¹⁶from hearing the sneers and insults of my enemies and those who hate me.

¹⁷All this has happened to us, even though we have not forgotten you or broken the covenant you made with us.

¹⁸We have not been disloyal to you; we have not disobeyed your commands.

¹⁹Yet you left us helpless among wild animals; you abandoned us in deepest darkness.

²⁰If we had stopped worshiping our God and prayed to a foreign god,

²¹you would surely have discovered it, because you know our secret thoughts.

²²But it is on your account that we are being killed all the time, that we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered.

²³Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep? Rouse yourself Don't reject us forever!

²⁴Why are you hiding from us? Don't forget our suffering and trouble!

²⁵We fall crushed to the ground; we lie defeated in the dust.

²⁶Come to our aid! Because of your constant love save us!