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.
Kuzaliwa Kwa Mose
12:1 Mwa 29:34; Kut 6:20; Hes 26:29Basi mtu mmoja wa nyumba ya Lawi akaoa mwanamke Mlawi, 22:2 Mwa 39:6; Ebr 11:23naye mwanamke huyo akapata mimba, akazaa mtoto wa kiume. Alipoona mtoto huyo ni mzuri, akamficha kwa miezi mitatu. 32:3 Isa 18:2; Mwa 6:14; 41:2; Ay 8:11; Mdo 7:21Lakini alipoona hawezi kumficha zaidi, akamtengenezea kisafina cha mafunjo, akakipaka lami. Kisha akamweka huyo mtoto ndani yake, akakificha katikati ya matete kando ya ukingo wa Mto Naili. 42:4 Kut 15:20Dada ya huyo mtoto akasimama mbali ili kuona kitakachompata mtoto.
52:5 Kut 7:15; 8:20Ndipo binti Farao akateremka mtoni Naili kuoga, nao wahudumu wake wakawa wanatembea ukingoni mwa mto. Binti mfalme akaona kisafina katikati ya manyasi, akamtuma mmoja wa watumwa wake wa kike kukichukua. 6Alifungua kisafina akaona mtoto ndani yake. Mtoto alikuwa akilia, akamhurumia. Akasema, “Huyu ni mmoja wa watoto wa Kiebrania.”
7Ndipo dada wa huyo mtoto akamuuliza binti Farao, “Je, niende nikakutafutie mmoja wa wanawake wa Kiebrania akulelee huyu mtoto?”
8Binti Farao akamjibu, “Ndiyo, nenda.” Yule msichana akaenda akamleta mama wa mtoto. 9Binti Farao akamwambia, “Mchukue huyu mtoto unisaidie kumlea, nami nitakulipa.” Basi yule mwanamke akamchukua mtoto na kumlea. 102:10 1Sam 1:20; 2Sam 22:17Mtoto alipokua, akampeleka kwa binti Farao, naye akawa mwanawe. Akamwita jina lake Mose akisema, “Nilimtoa kwenye maji.”
Mose Akimbilia Midiani
112:11 Mdo 7:23; Ebr 11:24-26; Kut 1:11Siku moja, baada ya Mose kukua, akaondoka kwenda walikokuwa watu wake, na akachunguza jinsi walivyokuwa wakifanya kazi ngumu. Akamwona Mmisri akimpiga Mwebrania, mmojawapo wa watu wake. 12Mose akatazama huku na huko asione mtu yeyote, akamuua yule Mmisri, akamficha mchangani. 132:13 Mdo 7:26Kesho yake akatoka, akaona Waebrania wawili wakipigana. Akamuuliza yule aliyekosa, “Mbona unampiga Mwebrania mwenzako?”
142:14 Mwa 13:8; Mdo 7:27Yule mtu akamjibu, “Ni nani aliyekufanya mtawala na mwamuzi juu yetu? Je, unataka kuniua kama ulivyomuua yule Mmisri?” Ndipo Mose akaogopa na kuwaza, “Jambo lile nililofanya lazima limefahamika.”
152:15 Kut 4:19; Ebr 11:27; Mwa 31:21Farao aliposikia jambo hili, alijaribu kumuua Mose, lakini Mose akamkimbia Farao na kwenda kuishi katika nchi ya Midiani, akaketi kando ya kisima. 162:16 Kut 3:1; 18:1; Mwa 24:11Kuhani wa Midiani alikuwa na binti saba, nao wakaja kisimani ili kuchota maji na kujaza hori kwa ajili ya kunyweshea mifugo ya baba yao. 172:17 1Sam 30:8; Za 31:2; Mwa 29:10Baadhi ya wachungaji wakaja wakawafukuza hao wasichana. Ndipo Mose akainuka, akawasaidia na kunywesha mifugo yao.
182:18 Kut 3:1; 4:18; 18:5-12; Hes 10:29Hao wasichana waliporudi nyumbani kwa Reueli baba yao, akawauliza, “Imekuwaje leo mmerudi mapema hivyo?”
19Wakamjibu, “Mmisri mmoja alituokoa kutoka mikononi mwa wachungaji. Pia mtu huyo alituchotea maji na kunywesha mifugo.”
202:20 Mwa 18:2-5Akawauliza binti zake, “Yuko wapi? Mbona mmemwacha? Mkaribisheni ale chakula.”
212:21 Kut 4:25; 18:2; Hes 12:1Mose akakubali kukaa kwa huyo mtu, ambaye alimpa Mose binti yake aliyeitwa Sipora amwoe. 222:22 Amu 18:30; Mwa 23:4; Ebr 11:13Sipora alizaa mtoto wa kiume, naye Mose akamwita Gershomu, akisema, “Nimekuwa mgeni katika nchi ya kigeni.”
232:23 Mdo 7:30; Kut 4:19; 1:14; 3:7-9; 6:5; Hes 20:15-16; Kum 26:7; Yak 5:4; Amu 2:18; 1Sam 12:8; Za 5:2; 18:6; 39:12; 81:7Baada ya muda mrefu, mfalme wa Misri akafa. Waisraeli wakalia kwa huzuni katika utumwa wao, walilia na kilio chao cha kutaka msaada kwa ajili ya utumwa kikamfikia Mungu. 242:24 Mwa 8:1; 9:15; 15:15; 17:4; 22:16-18; 26:3; 28:13-15; Kut 32:13; 2Fal 13:23; Za 105:10, 42; Yer 14:21Mungu akasikia kilio chao cha huzuni, akakumbuka Agano alilofanya na Abrahamu pamoja na Isaki na Yakobo. 252:25 Kut 3:7; 4:31; Lk 1:25Kwa hiyo Mungu akawaangalia Waisraeli na kuwahurumia.
