Moses Is Born
1A man and a woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2She became pregnant and had a son by her husband. She saw that her baby was a fine child. And she hid him for three months. 3After that, she couldn’t hide him any longer. So she got a basket made out of the stems of tall grass. She coated the basket with tar. She placed the child in the basket. Then she put it in the tall grass that grew along the bank of the Nile River. 4The child’s sister wasn’t very far away. She wanted to see what would happen to him.
5Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile River to take a bath. Her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket in the tall grass. So she sent her female slave to get it. 6When she opened it, Pharaoh’s daughter saw the baby. He was crying. She felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
7Then his sister spoke to Pharaoh’s daughter. She asked, “Do you want me to go and get one of the Hebrew women? She could breast-feed 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 feed him for me. I’ll pay you.” So the woman took the baby and fed him. 10When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter. And he became her son. She named him Moses. She said, “I pulled him out of the water.”
Moses Escapes to Midian
11Moses grew up. One day, he went out to where his own people were. He watched them while they were hard at work. He saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew man. The man was one of Moses’ own people. 12Moses looked around and didn’t see anyone. So he killed the Egyptian. Then he hid his body in the sand. 13The next day Moses went out again. He saw two Hebrew men fighting. He asked the one who had started the fight a question. He said, “Why are you hitting another Hebrew man?”
14The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking about killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became afraid. He thought, “People must have heard about what I did.”
15When Pharaoh heard about what had happened, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses escaped from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian. There he sat down by a well. 16A priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to fill the stone tubs with water. They wanted to give water to their father’s flock. 17Some shepherds came along and chased the girls away. But Moses got up and helped them. Then he gave water to their flock.
18The girls returned to their father Reuel. He asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19They answered, “An Egyptian saved us from the shepherds. He even got water for us and gave it to the flock.”
20“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. And the man gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses to be his wife. 22Zipporah had a son by him. Moses named him Gershom. That’s because Moses said, “I’m an outsider in a strange land.”
23After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The people of Israel groaned because they were slaves. They also cried out to God. Their cry for help went up to him. 24God heard their groans. He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 25So God looked on the Israelites with concern for them.
የሙሴ መወለድ
1በዚያን ጊዜ ከሌዊ ነገድ የሆነ አንድ ሰው አንዲት ሌዋዊት ሴት አገባ። 2እርሷም ፀንሳ ወንድ ልጅ ወለደች፤ ሕፃኑ መልከ መልካም መሆኑን ባየች ጊዜ ሦስት ወር ሸሸገችው። 3ከዚያ በላይ ልትሸሽገው ባልቻለች ጊዜ ግን የደንገል ቅርጫት ወስዳ፣ በዝፍትና በቅጥራን ለቀለቀችው፤ ሕፃኑንም በውስጡ አስተኝታ ቅርጫቱን አባይ ወንዝ ዳር ቄጠማ መካከል አስቀመጠችው። 4የሕፃኑም እኅት የሚደርስበትን ነገር ለማወቅ ራቅ ብላ ቆማ ታይ ነበር።
5በዚህ ጊዜ የፈርዖን ልጅ ልትታጠብ ወደ አባይ ወንዝ ወረደች፤ በምትታጠብበትም ጊዜ ደንገጥሮቿ በወንዙ ዳር ወዲያና ወዲህ ይሉ ነበር፤ በቄጠማውም መካከል የተቀመጠ ቅርጫት አይታ ከደንገጥሮቿ አንዷን እንድታመጣው ላከቻት። 6ቅርጫቱን ስትከፍተው ሕፃኑን በውስጡ አየች፤ ያለቅስ ስለ ነበርም ዐዘነችለትና፣ “ከዕብራውያን ሕፃናት አንዱ መሆን አለበት” አለች።
7የሕፃኑ እኅት ለፈርዖን ልጅ፣ “ሕፃኑን እያጠባች የምታሳድግልሽ ከዕብራውያን ሴቶች መካከል ሞግዚት ላምጣልሽን?” አለቻት።
8የፈርዖንም ልጅ፣ “መልካም፣ ሂጂ” አለቻት። ልጂቱም ሄዳ የሕፃኑን እናት ይዛ መጣች። 9የፈርዖንም ልጅ ሴቲቱን፣ “ይህን ሕፃን ወስደሽ እያጠባሽ አሳድጊልኝ፤ ደመወዝ እከፍልሻለሁ” አለቻት። ሴትዮዋም ሕፃኑን ወስዳ አሳደገችው። 10ሕፃኑም ባደገ ጊዜ ወደ ፈርዖን ልጅ አመጣችው፤ ልጇም ሆነ፤ እርሷም፣ “ከውሃ አውጥቼዋለሁና” ስትል ስሙን ሙሴ2፥10 በዕብራይስጥ ሙሴ የሚለው የቃል ድምፅ፣ ማውጣት ከሚለው ቃል ጋር ተመሳሳይ ድምፅ አለው። ብላ ጠራችው።
ሙሴ ወደ ምድያም ምድር ሸሸ
11ሙሴ ካደገ በኋላ አንድ ቀን ወገኖቹ ወደሚገኙበት ስፍራ ወጣ፤ በዚያም ተገድደው ከባድ ሥራ ሲሠሩ ተመለከተ፤ ዕብራዊ ወገኑንም አንድ ግብፃዊ ሲደበድበው አየ። 12ሙሴም አካባቢውን ቃኝቶ ማንም አለመኖሩን ካረጋገጠ በኋላ፣ ግብፃዊውን ገድሎ አሸዋ ውስጥ ደበቀው። 13በማግስቱም በወጣ ጊዜ ሁለት ዕብራውያን እርስ በርሳቸው ሲጣሉ አየ፤ ጥፋተኛውንም፣ “የገዛ ወገንህን የምትመታው ለምንድን ነው?” አለው።
14ሰውየውም፣ “አንተን በእኛ ላይ ገዥና ዳኛ ማን አደረገህ? ግብፃዊውን እንደ ገደልኸው እኔንም ልትገድለኝ ትፈልጋለህን?” አለው። ሙሴም፣ “ለካስ ያደረግሁት ነገር ታውቋል!” በማለት ፈራ።
15ፈርዖንም ይህን በሰማ ጊዜ፣ ሙሴን ሊገድለው ፈለገ፤ ሙሴ ግን ከፈርዖን ሸሽቶ ወደ ምድያም ሄደ፤ እዚያም እንደ ደረሰ በአንድ የውሃ ጕድጓድ አጠገብ ተቀመጠ። 16የምድያም ካህን ሰባት ሴቶች ልጆች ነበሩት፤ እነርሱም ወደ ውሃው ጕድጓድ መጥተው የአባታቸውን በጎች ውሃ ለማጠጣት ገንዳውን ሞሉት። 17እረኞችም መጥተው ሴቶቹን ሲያባርሯቸው ሙሴ ከተቀመጠበት ተነሥቶ ተከላከለላቸው፤ በጎቻቸውንም አጠጣላቸው።
18ሴቶቹም ወደ አባታቸው ወደ ራጉኤል በተመለሱ ጊዜ፣ “ዛሬስ ያለወትሯችሁ እንዴት ፈጥናችሁ ተመለሳችሁ?” አላቸው።
19እነርሱም፣ “አንድ ግብፃዊ ከእረኞች እጅ አዳነን፤ እንዲያውም ውሃ ቀድቶ በጎቻችንን አጠጣልን” አሉት።
20አባታቸውም፣ “ሴቶች ልጆቹን የት አለ? ለምን ትታችሁት መጣችሁ? ጥሩትና አብሮን እንጀራ ይብላ” አላቸው።
21ሙሴም ከሰውየው ጋር ለመኖር ተስማማ፤ ራጉኤልም ልጁን ሲፓራን ዳረለት። 22ሲፓራም ወንድ ልጅ ወለደች፤ ሙሴም፣ “በባዕድ አገር መጻተኛ ነኝ” ሲል የልጁን ስም ጌርሳም2፥22 በዕብራይስጥ ጌርሳም የሚለው ቃል ድምፅ፣ መጻተኛ በዚያ አለ ከሚለው ሐረግ ጋር ተመሳሳይ ድምፅ አለው። ብሎ ጠራው።
23ከብዙ ዓመት በኋላ የግብፅ ንጉሥ ሞተ፤ እስራኤላውያንም በባርነት ከደረሰባቸው ግፍ የተነሣ ይጮኹ ነበር፤ ከባርነት ቀንበር ለመላቀቅ ያሰሙትም ጩኸት ወደ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ደረሰ። 24እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም) የጩኸታቸውን ሲቃ ሰማ፤ ከአብርሃም፣ ከይስሐቅና ከያዕቆብ ጋር የገባውንም ቃል ኪዳን ዐሰበ። 25እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም) እስራኤላውያንን ተመለከተ፤ ስለ እነርሱም ገደደው።
