1 These are the names of Yisra’el’s descendants who accompanied Yacob (Jacob) when he moved his household to Egypt:[ref] 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Yehudah, 3 Yissakar (Issachar), Zebulun, Benyamin, 4 Dan, Naftali, Gad, and Asher. 5 At that time, Yacob had a total of seventy descendants (including Yosef and his sons who were already in Egypt.)

6 As the years progressed, Yosef and his brothers died—all of that generation, 7 but they’d had many children who went on to have their own children and grandchildren, and so they became a large and powerful group there in Egypt.[ref]

8 Eventually a new king came to power in Egypt (Mitsrayim) who had never known Yosef[ref] 9 and he told his people, “Listen, those descendants of Yisrael (Israel) are becoming more numerous and powerful than us. 10 So, let’s deal wisely with them, in case they continue to multiply. Then if war was to break out, they could easily take the other side and fight against us, and then leave our country.”[ref] 11 Then they appointed overseers to work them in slave gangs, and using them as forced labour, they built the store cities at Pithon and Rameses for Far’oh (Pharaoh). 12 However, the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread out, and the more the Egyptians came to dread the Israelis. 13 So they made the Israelis work long, hard hours, 14 and they made their lives bitter with the hard slavery. They were forced to make mortar and bricks, as well as all kinds of slave labour in the fields—all the work they had to do was strenuous and tiring.

15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to Shifrah and Puah, the two Hebrew midwives, 16 saying, “When you assist the Hebrew women as midwives, as you sit there on your stool, if you see that it’s a male, do something so he’ll die, but if it’s a female, then let her live.” 17 But the midwives were godly women and didn’t do according to what the Egyptian king had instructed them, and they let the boys live. 18 So the king called the midwives back, and he demanded, “Why have you done that and let their sons live?”

19 “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women,” the midwives answered. “They’re more active and give birth before the midwife even gets to them.” 20 So God rewarded the midwives, and meanwhile, the people continued to increase in number and become more powerful, 21 and because the midwives had demonstrated their desire to obey God, he gave them families of their own. 22 Then Far’oh commanded all of his people, “You all need to toss every newborn boy into the river, but you can let the girls live.”[ref]

2 During this period, a man from the tribe of Levi married a woman who was also a Levite, 2 and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a healthy boy, she hid him away for three months,[ref] 3 but then she wasn’t able to hide him any longer. So she got a basket made from woven reeds and plastered it with bitumen and pitch. Then she put the baby in it, and floated the basket in the reeds along the riverbank, 4 leaving the baby’s sister to watch from a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 After a while, Far’oh’s daughter came down to the river to wash herself, and she and her young attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the container among the reeds and sent one of her slave women to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby inside, and wow, he started crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This baby must be one of the Hebrew children.”

7 Then his sister approached and asked the princess, “Would you like me to go and find a Hebrew woman who’ll be able to breastfeed the baby for you?”

8 “Yes, go,” answered Far’oh’s daughter, and the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 “Take this baby,” said the princess, “and breastfeed him for me, and I’ll pay you for doing it.” So the woman took the baby and looked after him. 10 When the boy had grown enough, she brought him back to Far’oh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him ‘Mosheh’[fn] (which means ‘pulled out’) because she said that she’d plucked him out of the river.[ref]

11 Later on when Mosheh was fully grown, he went out to visit the Hebrews and saw their forced labour, and he saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man—one of his own people.[ref] 12 Mosheh looked around to check that no one was watching, then he hit the Egyptian, killing him, then he hid his body in the sand. 13 The next day, he went out again and wow, two Hebrew men were fighting each other, and he said to the man in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

14 “Who made you the ruler and judge over us?” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian?” Then Mosheh was afraid because he realised that what he’d done had probably become widely known. 15 Indeed, when Far’oh heard about it, he ordered Mosheh to be killed. So Mosheh had to flee from the king and he took off east to live in Midian and he stayed near the well.[ref]

16 The priest there in Midian had seven daughters, and they would come to the well to draw water out and fill up the troughs there so their father’s sheep and goats could drink. 17 Now some male shepherds came along and started to shoo their flock away, but Mosheh got involved and helped them so that their animals could drink. 18 When they got home to their father Reuel, he asked, “How come you got home so early today?”

19 “There was an Egyptian man,” they answered, “who stood up for us against those other shepherds. And he even drew water for us and gave our flock water to drink.”

20 “Where is he now?” he asked them. “What’s this—you mean you all just left him there? Go and get him so we can give him a meal.”

21 Later it turned out that Mosheh was prepared to live with the man, and in due course he gave his daughter Zipporah to Mosheh in marriage. 22 When she gave birth to a son, he named him ‘Gershom’ (which means ‘foreigner’) because he said, “I’ve become a foreigner living in a foreign land.”

23 Eventually Egypt’s king died, but the Israelis groaned from the slavery they were still under and they cried out, and their cry for freedom from slavery went up to God. 24 He heard their groaning and remembered his agreement with Abraham, with Yitshak, and with Yacob,[ref] 25 and he looked down on the Israelis and he was concerned about them.

3 One time Mosheh (Moses) was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Yetro (or Jethro, the priest at Midian), and he led the flock beyond the wilderness and came to a hill. (This was later known as the mountain of God at Horev). 2 While he was there. Yahweh’s messenger appeared to him in a flame coming from the middle of a bush, and as Mosheh looked, to his surprise he saw that the bush was burning in the fire yet not actually being burnt up.[ref] 3 “I’ve got to go and see this amazing sight,” Mosheh said to himself. “How come that bush isn’t burning up?”

4 When Yahweh saw that he’d left his path in order to look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Mosheh, Mosheh.”

“I’m here,” he replied.

5 “Don’t come any closer,” Yahweh said. “Take off your sandals because the place where you’re standing is HOLY ground. 6 I’m the god of your father and the god of Abraham, Yitshak, and Yacob.” So Mosheh covered hid his face because he was scared to look at God.

7 “I’ve certainly noticed the suffering of my people in Egypt,” Yahweh continued, “I’ve heard their cries as the slave drivers oppress them—I’m unmistakingly aware of their pain. 8 So I’ve come down to set them free from Egyptian control and to bring them up from there to a good and wide land—a land flowing with milk and honey. It’s currently the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Yebusites. 9 Yes, the cry of the Israelis has now reached me and what’s more, I’ve seen how much the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So go now and I’ll send you to Far’oh (Pharaoh) and bring my people—Yisra’el’s descendants—out from Egypt.”

11 “Who am I, that I should go to Far’oh,” Mosheh asked God, “and that I should be the one to bring out the Israelis out from Egypt?”

12 “I’ll certainly be with you,” God replied, “and this will be your sign so that you’ll know that I have sent you: when you bring the people out from Egypt, you all will serve God on this very hill.”

13 “But listen,” Mosheh told God, “If I’m about to go to the Israelis and if I told them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you.’ then they’d ask me, ‘Oh yeah, what’s his name?’ then what would I tell them?”[ref]

14 “I AM WHO I AM,” God told Mosheh. “You’ll tell them this: ‘I AM (Yahweh) sent me to you.’ ”[ref] 15 Then he continued, “This is what you need to tell the Israelis: ‘Yahweh, the god of your ancestors, the god of Abraham, Yitshak, and Yacob, sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ 16 Go and gather the Israeli elders, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the god of your ancestors, appeared to me, the god of Abraham, Yitshak, and Yacob, to say, “I’ve certainly noticed you all and how you’re all being treated in Egypt, 17 and I’ve promised to take you all from your mistreatment in Egypt, away to the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Yebusites are currently living—to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

18 Then the people will listen to what you tell them, and you and the Israeli elders will go to the Egyptian king and you’ll all tell him, ‘Yahweh, the god of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, so we can sacrifice to Yahweh, our god.’ 19 But I know that the Egyptian king won’t let you go until he’s forced to. 20 So I will use force and I’ll strike Egypt with several supernatural acts, and after those, he’ll let you all go.

21 Then I’ll make the Egyptian people favour you all in such a way that when you go, you won’t leave empty-handed.[ref] 22 For example, an Israeli woman will ask her Egyptian neighbour (or from someone staying where she lives) for gold and silver items and for clothing. Then you’ll put them on your sons and daughters, and in this way you’ll all plunder the Egyptians.”

4 “But listen,” Mosheh responded, “they won’t believe me and won’t listen to what I say, because they’ll say, ‘Yahweh never showed himself to you.’ ” 2 “Well, what’s that in your hand?” Yahweh asked.

“My shepherd’s staff,” he said. 3 “Throw it on the ground,” Yahweh said. So Mosheh he threw it onto the ground and it became a snake, and he quickly moved back away from it. 4 “Pick it up by its tail.” Yahweh told him. So Mosheh picked it up by the tail and it became a staff in his hand again. 5 “That’s so that they’ll believe that I appeared to you: Yahweh—the god of their ancestors—the god of Abraham, Yitshak, and Yacob.”

6 “Now put your hand on your chest—inside your robe.” Yahweh added. So Mosheh did that, and when he pulled it out again, his hand had gone totally white with disease. 7 Then Yahweh said, “Now, put your hand back in again.” So Mosheh did it again, and when he pulled it out, wow, it had returned to normal. 8 “So, if they don’t believe you, and if the first miracle doesn’t convince them, then they’ll believe that second miracle. 9 And then, even if they don’t believe those two miracles and won’t believe what you tell them, then you should take some water from the river and pour it onto the dry land. Then the water which came from the river will turn into blood there on the dry land.”

10 “Oh my master,” Mosheh responded, “I’m not very good at speaking to others—I never have been and still aren’t. I seem to get tongue-tied easily.”

11 “Who was it that made people’s mouths?” Yahweh said. “Who makes someone mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Isn’t it me, Yahweh? 12 So get going now, and I’ll look after your mouth and show you what you to say.”

13 But Mosheh replied, “Oh master, please send someone else.”

14 Then Yahweh got angry with Mosheh and told him, “Isn’t Aharon (Aaron) a fellow Levite and your brother? I know that he can speak well, and what’s more, he’ll come from Egypt to meet you, and when he does, he’ll be very happy. 15 He’ll become your speaker and you’ll be able to talk to him and tell him what to say. I’ll be helping both of you speak and I’ll teach you both what you should do. 16 So in that way, he’ll be like a mouth for you and speak to the people for you, and you’ll be like God to him. 17 In addition, you’ll have that staff with you in order to do those miracles.”

18 Then Mosheh went back to his father-in-law Yetro (Jethro), and told him, “Can I please leave so I can return to my relatives in Egypt and see whether they’re still alive.”

“Go in peace,” Yetro answered.

19 Meanwhile Yahweh had told Mosheh in Midian, “Leave here and return to Egypt because all those who wanted to kill you are now dead.” 20 Then Mosheh took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey and returned towards Egypt with them, and Mosheh took the staff that God had turned into a snake.

21 On the way, Yahweh said to Mosheh, “When you return to Egypt, all those miracles that I gave you, you’ll be able to demonstrate them in front of Far’oh (Pharaoh), but as for me, I’m going to make him stubborn so that he won’t let your people leave. 22 But tell Far’oh, ‘Yahweh has stated that Yisra’el is like his oldest son 23 and he asked you to let that son go so that he can serve him. But you refused to let Yisra’el go, so Yahweh will kill your oldest son.’ ”[ref]

24 One night as they were overnighting at a lodging place near the road, Yahweh confronted Mosheh and would have killed him, 25 but his wife Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Mosheh’s feet saying, “You’re definitely a bloody husband to me.” 26 (That was referring to circumcision.) So then Yahweh left them alone.

27 Meanwhile Yahweh had told Aharon, “Go out into the wilderness to meet Mosheh.” So he went and met him at the hill of God, and he kissed him. 28 Then Mosheh told Aharon everything that Yahweh had told him and how he had sent him, and all the miracles that he commanded him to demonstrate.

29 Then Mosheh and Aharon went to Egypt and they assembled all the Israeli elders 30 and Aharon told them everything that Yahweh had spoken to Mosheh. Then Mosheh did the miracles in front of them, 31 and the people believed. Then they heard how Yahweh had paid attention to the Israelis and that he had seen their suffering, and they bowed and prostrated themselves in thankfulness.

5 After that, Mosheh and Aharon went in and said to Far’oh, “This is what Yisrael’s god Yahweh says: ‘Let my people go, so they can celebrate me out in the wilderness.’ ”

2 But the king said, “Who’s this ‘Yahweh’ that I should listen to him telling me to let Yisrael go? I don’t know Yahweh, and what’s more, I won’t let the Israelis go anywhere.”

3 “The God of us Hebrews has met with us,” they replied, “Please, let us go three days into the wilderness so we can sacrifice to our god Yahweh, because we don’t want him to strike us with the plague or with war.”

4 “Mosheh and Aharon,” the king of Egypt answered, “why are you causing the people to slacken off from their tasks? Get back to your work.” 5 And Far’oh continued, “Listen, there’s many of you and you two have caused them to rest from their duties.”

6 Then on that very same day, Far’oh ordered the people’s slave masters and supervisors, 7 “Don’t give straw to the people to make bricks with as you’ve done up till now. They can go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But keep the same quota of bricks as before—don’t decrease it because they must be idle if they have time to say, ‘Let us go—let us sacrifice to our god.’ 9 Give the men more work so they’ll be too busy to worry about deceptive words.”

10 So the slave masters and supervisors of the people went out and told them all, “The king has said that he won’t give you any more straw, 11 so you’ll all have to go and get your own straw from wherever you can find it, because there’ll be no reduction to your quota.” 12 So the people dispersed throughout all of Egypt to gather stubble for straw, 13 and the taskmasters were hassling them, saying, “Hurry up and finish your day’s work, the same as when you were given straw.” 14 Then the Israeli foremen that Far’oh’s slave masters had appointed were beaten and told, “Why haven’t you met your required brick making quota yesterday or today? It’s just the same as in the past.”

15 So the Israeli foremen went and complained to Far’oh, “Why are you treating your servants like this? 16 We haven’t been given any straw and yet they’re telling us to keep making bricks. And see, we your servants get beaten, but it’s your people’s mistake.”

17 “You’re all lazy—plain lazy!” the king responded. “That’s why you’re saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to Yahweh.’ 18 So go now! Back to work! And you won’t be given straw, but you still have to meet the quota of bricks.”

19 When the Israeli foremen heard that the quota wasn’t going to be reduced, they realised how serious their problem was, 20 so when they left Far’oh they confronted Mosheh and Aharon who were waiting to meet them, 21 “May Yahweh see what you’ve done and judge you for it because you’ve raised a big stink in Far’oh’s mind and with his servants. Now they have their excuse to kill us!”