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The Israelites Oppressed
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
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Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
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but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
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“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.
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Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
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But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
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“When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
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Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
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She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
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Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
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Moses Flees to Midian
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
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The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
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When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
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“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
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During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.
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God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.
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So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
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There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
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So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
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“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
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Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
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And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
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So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
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But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
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And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
