Exodus 1-2

English Standard Version

Israel Increases Greatly in Egypt

1 ^(A)These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵ All the descendants of Jacob were ^(B)seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶ Then ^(C)Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. ^7 (D)But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ^(E)who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Behold, ^(F)the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. ^10 (G)Come, ^(H)let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them ^(I)to afflict them with heavy ^(J)burdens. They built for Pharaoh ^(K)store cities, Pithom and ^(L)Raamses. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. ¹³ So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel ^(M)work as slaves ¹⁴ and ^(N)made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ¹⁶ “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives ^(O)feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” ¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” ^20 (P)So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God, ^(Q)he gave them families. ²² Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ^(R)“Every son that is born to the Hebrews^[a] you shall cast into ^(S)the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a ^(T)man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. ² The woman conceived and bore a son, and ^(U)when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. ³ When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes^[b] and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the ^(V)reeds by the river bank. ⁴ And ^(W)his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. ⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.” ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸ And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child's mother. ⁹ And Pharaoh's daughter 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 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became ^(X)her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I ^(Y)drew him out of the water.”^[c]

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, ^(Z)when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their ^(AA)burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.^{[d] 12} He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he ^(AB)struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ When ^(AC)he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” ¹⁴ He answered, ^(AD)“Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” ¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But ^(AE)Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by ^(AF)a well.

¹⁶ Now the ^(AG)priest of Midian had seven daughters, and ^(AH)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 saved them, and ^(AI)watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came home to their father ^(AJ)Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” ¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and ^(AK)watered the flock.” ²⁰ He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may ^(AL)eat bread.” ²¹ And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter ^(AM)Zipporah. ²² She gave birth to a son, and he called his name ^(AN)Gershom, for he said, “I have been a ^(AO)sojourner^[e] in a foreign land.”

God Hears Israel's Groaning

^23 (AP)During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel ^(AQ)groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. ^(AR)Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. ²⁴ And ^(AS)God heard their groaning, and God ^(AT)remembered his covenant with ^(AU)Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ God ^(AV)saw the people of Israel—and God ^(AW)knew.