The Israelites oppressed
1These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
2Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;
3Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
4Dan and Naphtali;
Gad and Asher.
5The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy1:5 Masoretic Text (see also Gen. 46:27); Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint (see also Acts 7:14 and note at Gen. 46:27) seventy-five in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
6Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
8Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10Come, 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.’
11So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labour, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13and worked them ruthlessly. 14They made their lives bitter with harsh labour in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labour, the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16‘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.’ 17The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, ‘Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?’
19The midwives answered Pharaoh, ‘Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.’
20So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22Then 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.’
እስራኤላውያን በጭቈና ሥር
1ቤተ ሰቦቻቸውን ይዘው ከያዕቆብ ጋር ወደ ግብፅ የሄዱት የእስራኤል ልጆች ስሞች እነዚህ ናቸው፦
2ሮቤል፣ ስምዖን፣ ሌዊ፣ ይሁዳ፣
3ይሳኮር፣ ዛብሎን፣ ብንያም፣
4ዳን፣ ንፍታሌም፣
ጋድና አሴር።
5የያዕቆብ ዘር ጠቅላላ ብዛት ሰባ1፥5 የማሶሬቱ ቅጅ (ዘፍ 46፥27 ይመ)፣ የሙት ባሕር ጥቅልል እንዲሁም የሰብዓ ሊቃናት ትርጕም (ሐሥ 7፥14 እና የዘፍ 46፥27 ማብ ይመ)፣ ሰባ አምስት ይላሉ። ሲሆን፣ ዮሴፍ ግን ቀደም ብሎ በግብፅ ነበረ።
6ከጊዜ በኋላ ዮሴፍና ወንድሞቹ ያም ትውልድ በሙሉ ሞቱ፤ 7ይሁን እንጂ እስራኤላውያን እየተዋለዱ በዙ፤ ቍጥራቸው እጅግ ከመጨመሩም የተነሣ የግብፅን ምድር ሞሏት።
8በግብፅም፣ ስለ ዮሴፍ የማያውቅ አዲስ ንጉሥ ነገሠ። 9እርሱም ሕዝቡን እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “እነሆ፤ እስራኤላውያን በቍጥር በልጠውናል፤ ከእኛም ይልቅ እየበረቱ ነው፤ 10ቍጥራቸው እንዳይጨምር፣ ጦርነት ቢነሣ ከጠላቶቻችን ጋር አብረው እንዳይወጉንና ከምድሪቱም ኰብልለው እንዳይሄዱ ዘዴ እንፈልግ።”
11ስለዚህ እያስጨነቁ የግዳጅ ሥራ የሚያሠሯቸውን አሠሪ አለቆች ሾሙባቸው። እስራኤላውያንም ፊቶምና ራምሴ የተባሉ ንብረት ማከማቻ ከተሞችን ለፈርዖን ሠሩለት። 12ነገር ግን ባስጨነቋቸው መጠን የእስራኤላውያን ቍጥር በዛ፤ በምድሪቱም እየተስፋፉ ሄዱ፤ ከዚህም የተነሣ ግብፃውያኑ እስራኤላውያንን እጅግ ፈሯቸው፤ 13ጭካኔ በተሞላበት ሁኔታም ያሠሯቸው ጀመር። 14ጭቃ በማስቦካት፣ ጡብ በማሠራትና በእርሻም ሁሉ እያስጨነቁ ከባድ ሥራ እንዲሠሩ በማድረግ ሕይወታቸውን አስመረሩ፤ ግብፃውያኑ በሚያሠሯቸው ከባድ ሥራ ሁሉ ፈጽሞ አይራሩላቸውም ነበር።
15የግብፅም ንጉሥ ሲፓራና ፉሐ የተባሉትን ዕብራውያን ሴቶች አዋላጆች እንዲህ አላቸው፤ 16“የዕብራውያንን ሴቶች በማማጫው ድንጋይ ላይ በምታዋልዱበት ጊዜ የሚወለደው ሕፃን ወንድ ከሆነ ግደሉት፤ ሴት ከሆነች ግን በሕይወት ትኑር።” 17አዋላጆቹ ግን እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም) ስለ ፈሩ የግብፅ ንጉሥ ያዘዛቸውን አልፈጸሙም፤ ወንዶቹንም ልጆች በሕይወት እንዲኖሩ ተዉአቸው። 18ንጉሡም አዋላጆቹን ጠርቶ፣ “ለምንድን ነው ወንዶቹን ልጆች በሕይወት እንዲኖሩ የተዋችኋቸው?” አላቸው።
19እነርሱም፣ “የዕብራውያን ሴቶች እንደ ግብፃውያን ሴቶች አይደሉም፤ ብርቱዎች ስለሆኑ አዋላጆች ከመድረሳቸው በፊት ይወልዳሉ” ሲሉ ለፈርዖን መለሱለት።
20ከዚህም የተነሣ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ለአዋላጆቹ መልካም ሆነላቸው፤ ሕዝቡም በቍጥር እየበዛና እያየለ ሄደ። 21አዋላጆቹም እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም) በመፍራታቸው ቤተ ሰብ ሰጣቸው።
22ፈርዖንም፣ “የሚወለደውን ወንድ ልጅ1፥22 የማሶሬቱ ቅጅ፣ ኦሪተ ሳምራውያን፣ የሰብዓ ሊቃናት ትርጕም እንዲሁም ታርጕም ከዕብራውያን የሚወለደውን ይላሉ። ሁሉ አባይ ወንዝ ውስጥ ጣሉት፤ ሴት ልጅ ሁሉ ግን በሕይወት ትኑር” ሲል ሕዝቡን አዘዘ።
