Page:The Holy Bible (YLT).djvu/57

 EXODUS. CHAP. 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: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And all the persons coming out of the thigh of Jacob are seventy persons; as to Joseph, he was in Egypt.

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

And there riseth a new king over Egypt, who hath not known Joseph, and he saith unto his people, 'Lo, the people of the sons of Israel is more numerous and mighty than we: 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.'

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; and as they afflict it, so it multiplieth, and so it breaketh forth, and they are vexed because of the sons of Israel; and the Egyptians cause the sons of Israel to serve with rigour, 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.

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), 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.'

And the midwives fear God, and have not done as the king of Egypt hath spoken unto them, and keep the lads alive; and the king of Egypt calleth for the midwives, and saith to them, 'Wherefore have ye done this thing, and keep the lads alive?' 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!'

And God doth good to the midwives, and the people multiply, and are very mighty; and it cometh to pass, because the midwives have feared God, that He maketh for them households; 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.'

II. AND there goeth a man of the house of Levi, and he taketh the daughter of Levi. and the woman conceiveth, and beareth a son, and she seeth him that he is fair, and she hideth him three months, and she hath not been able any more to hide him, and she taketh for him an ark of rushes, and daubeth it with bitumen and with pitch, and putteth the lad in it, and putteth it in the weeds by the edge of the River; and his sister stationeth herself afar off, to know what is done to him.

And a daughter of Pharaoh cometh down to bathe at the River, and her damsels are walking by the side of the River, and she seeth the ark in the midst of the weeds, and sendeth her handmaid, and she taketh it, and openeth, and seeth him—the lad, and lo, a child weeping! and she hath pity on him, and saith. 'This is one of the Hebrews' children.'

And his sister saith unto the daughter of Pharaoh, 'Do I go? when I have called for thee a suckling woman of the Hebrews, then she doth suckle the lad for thee;' and the daughter of Pharaoh saith to her, 'Go;' and the virgin goeth, and calleth the mother of the lad, and the daughter of Pharaoh saith to her, 'Take this lad away, and suckle him for me, and I—I give thy hire;' and the woman taketh the lad, and suckleth him.

And the lad groweth, and she bringeth him in to the daughter of Pharaoh, and he is to her for a son, and she calleth his name Moses, and saith, 'Because—from the water I have drawn him.'

And it cometh to pass, in those days, that Moses is grown, and he goeth out unto his brethren, and looketh on their burdens, and seeth a man, an Egyptian, smiting a man, a Hebrew, one of his brethren, and he turneth hither and thither, and seeth that there is no man, and smiteth the Egyptian, and hideth him in the sand.

And he goeth out on the second day, and lo, two men, Hebrews, striving! and he saith to the wrong-doer, 'Why dost thou smite thy neighbour?' and he saith, 'Who set thee for a head and a judge over us? to slay me art thou saying it, as thou hast slain the Egyptian?' and Moses feareth, and saith, 'Surely the thing hath been known.'

And Pharaoh heareth of this thing, and seeketh to slay Moses, and Moses fleeth from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelleth in the land of Midian, and dwelleth by the well.

And to a priest of Midian are seven daughters, and they come and draw, and fill the troughs, to water the flock of their father, and the shepherds come and drive them away, and Moses ariseth, and saveth them, and watereth their flock.

And they come in to Reuel their father, and he saith, 'Wherefore have ye hastened to come in to-day?' and they say, 'A man, an Egyptian, hath delivered us out of the 37