Kubadwa kwa Mose
1Ndipo munthu wina wa fuko la Levi anakwatira mkazi wa fuko lomwelo. 2Mkaziyo anatenga pathupi ndipo anabereka mwana wamwamuna. Ataona kuti mwanayo anali wokongola, anamubisa kwa miyezi itatu. 3Koma mwanayo atafika pa msinkhu woti sakanathanso kubisidwa, amayi ake anatenga kadengu kopangidwa ndi bango nakamata phula. Kenaka anayika mwanayo mʼmenemo ndi kukamuyika pa mabango mu mtsinje wa Nailo. 4Mlongo wake wa mwanayo anayima pataliko kuti aone chimene chidzamuchitikira mwanayo.
5Mwana wamkazi wa Farao anapita ku mtsinje wa Nailo kukasamba ndipo adzakazi ake ankayenda mʼmbali mwa mtsinjewo. Tsono mwana wa Farao uja anaona kadenguko pakati pa mabango ndipo anatuma mdzakazi wake kuti akakatenge. 6Iye atavundukula anaona mwana wamwamuna akungolira. Iye anamva naye chisoni mwana uja, nati, “Ameneyu ndi mmodzi mwa ana a Chihebri.”
7Kenaka mlongo wake wa mwanayo anafunsa mwana wa Farao kuti, “Ndingapite kukakupezerani mmodzi mwa amayi a Chihebri kuti azikakulererani mwanayu?”
8Iye anayankha kuti, “Inde, pita.” Ndipo mtsikanayo anapita nakayitana amayi a mwanayo. 9Mwana wa Farao anati, “Tengani mwanayu mukandilerere, ndidzakulipirani.” Mayiyo anatenga mwanayo kukamulera. 10Mwanayo atakula anakamupereka kwa mwana wa Farao ndipo anakhala mwana wake. Iye anamutcha dzina lake Mose, popeza anati, “Ndinamuvuwula mʼmadzi.”
Mose Athawira ku Midiyani
11Tsiku lina, Mose atakula, anapita kumene kunali anthu a mtundu wake ndipo anawaona akugwira ntchito yowawa. Iye anaona Mwigupto akumenya Mhebri, mmodzi mwa anthu a mtundu wake. 12Atayangʼana uku ndi uku, naona kuti panalibe wina aliyense, Mose anamupha Mwiguptoyo ndipo anamukwirira mu mchenga. 13Mmawa mwake Mose anapita ndipo anaona anthu awiri a Chihebri akumenyana. Iye anafunsa amene anali wolakwa kuti, “Chifukwa chiyani ukumenya Mhebri mnzako?”
14Munthu uja anati, “Kodi ndani anakuyika kuti ukhale wotilamulira ndi wotiweruza? Kodi ukufuna kundipha monga momwe unaphera Mwigupto uja?” Mose anachita mantha ndipo anati mu mtima mwake, “Chimene ndinachita chija chadziwika.”
15Farao atamva zimenezi anafuna kuti aphe Mose, koma Mose anathawa ndipo anapita kukakhala ku Midiyani. Ali kumeneko, tsiku lina anakhala pansi pafupi ndi chitsime. 16Wansembe wa ku Midiyaniko anali ndi ana aakazi asanu ndi awiri. Iwowa anabwera kudzatunga madzi ndi kudzaza mu zomwera kuti amwetse nkhosa za abambo awo. 17Koma kunabwera abusa ena amene anathamangitsa atsikana aja. Ndiye Mose anayimirira nawathandiza atsikana aja ndi kumwetsa nkhosa zawo.
18Atsikana aja atabwerera kwa abambo awo Reueli, iye anawafunsa kuti, “Chifukwa chiyani lero mwabwera msanga?”
19Atsikanawo anayankha kuti, “Mwigupto wina ndiye watilanditsa kwa abusa. Ndiponso anatitungira madzi ndi kumwetsa ziweto zathu.”
20Tsono Reueli anafunsa ana ake kuti, “Ndiye ali kuti munthuyo? Chifukwa chiyani mwamusiya? Kamuyitaneni kuti adzadye.”
21Mose anavomera kukhala ndi Reueli, ndipo anamupatsa Zipora kuti akhale mkazi wake. 22Zipora anabereka mwana wa mwamuna amene Mose anamutcha Geresomu, popeza anati, “Ndakhala mlendo mʼdziko la eni.”
23Nthawi yonseyo nʼkuti ana a Israeli akulira chifukwa cha ukapolo wawo uja. Iwo anafuwula kupempha thandizo, ndipo kulira kwawoko kunafika kwa Mulungu. 24Mulungu anamva kubuwula kwawo ndipo anakumbukira pangano lake ndi Abrahamu, Isake ndi Yakobo. 25Mulungu ataona Aisraeli aja ndi masautso awo, Iye anawamvera chifundo.
The birth of Moses
1Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket2:3 The Hebrew can also mean ark, as in Gen. 6:14. for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. ‘This is one of the Hebrew babies,’ she said.
7Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?’
8‘Yes, go,’ she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9Pharaoh’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. 10When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,2:10 Moses sounds like the Hebrew for draw out. saying, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
Moses flees to Midian
11One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12Looking this way and that and seeing no-one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?’
14The man said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘What I did must have become known.’
15When 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. 16Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
18When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, ‘Why have you returned so early today?’
19They answered, ‘An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.’
20‘And where is he?’ Reuel asked his daughters. ‘Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.’
21Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,2:22 Gershom sounds like the Hebrew for a foreigner there. saying, ‘I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.’
23During 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. 24God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
