摩西出生
1有一个利未族的人跟他同族的女子结婚。 2那女子怀孕，生了一个男婴。她看见孩子可爱，就把他藏了三个月。 3后来无法再藏下去，她就拿来一个蒲草篮子，外面涂上防水的沥青和柏油，然后把婴儿放在里面，又把篮子放在尼罗河边的芦苇丛中。 4婴儿的姐姐远远地站着，要看看她的弟弟究竟会怎样。
5这时，法老的女儿来到河边沐浴，宫女们在河边行走。公主发现了芦苇丛中的篮子，便吩咐一个婢女去把它取来。 6公主打开一看，原来是一个男婴。公主看见孩子在哭，就可怜他，说：“他是希伯来人的孩子。” 7婴儿的姐姐对公主说：“我去找一个希伯来妇女当奶妈，为你哺养他好吗？” 8公主回答说：“好！”那女孩就跑去把婴孩的母亲带来。 9公主对那妇女说：“你把孩子抱去，替我哺养他，我会给你工钱。”她便把孩子抱去哺养。 10孩子渐渐长大，她便把他带到公主那里，孩子就做了公主的儿子。公主给孩子取名叫摩西，意思是“我把他从水中拉了上来”。
11后来，摩西长大了，他去看望做苦工的希伯来同胞，看见一个埃及人在殴打他的一个希伯来同胞。 12他左右观望，见四下无人，便下手杀了那埃及人，把尸体埋藏在沙地里。 13第二天，他又出去，看见两个希伯来人在打架，便过去对理亏的人说：“你为什么打自己的同胞呢？” 14那人说：“谁立你做我们的首领和审判官？难道你要杀我，像杀那个埃及人一样吗？”摩西听了，害怕起来，心想：“我做的事一定被人知道了。” 15法老听说这件事后，便想杀死摩西。摩西为了躲避法老，就逃到米甸居住。一天他坐在一口井旁， 16米甸祭司的七个女儿来打水，要把水倒进槽里饮她们父亲的羊。 17这时，来了另外一群牧人要把她们赶走。摩西便起来帮助她们，打水饮她们的羊群。 18她们回到父亲流珥2:18 “流珥”又名“叶特罗”。那里，父亲问道：“你们今天怎么这么快就回来了？” 19她们答道：“有一个埃及人救我们免遭牧人的欺负，还帮我们打水饮羊群。” 20他又问女儿们：“现在那人在哪里？你们怎么可以丢下他不管呢？去请他来吃点东西。” 21后来，摩西同意住在那人家里。那人把女儿西坡拉许配给他。 22后来，西坡拉生了一个儿子，摩西给他取名叫革舜，意思是“我成了在异乡寄居的人”。
23过了多年，埃及王死了。以色列人受尽奴役，就哀叹呼求，声音传到上帝那里。 24上帝听见他们的哀声，顾念从前跟亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各所立的约， 25就垂顾他们，体恤他们。
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.
