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 labor, 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 labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor 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.”
以色列人受欺壓
1以色列的眾子帶著家眷跟雅各1·1 「雅各」就是「以色列」，上帝為雅各改名以色列，故事參考創世記32·28。一起去了埃及，以下是他們的名字： 2呂便、西緬、利未、猶大、 3以薩迦、西布倫、便雅憫、 4但、拿弗他利、迦得、亞設。 5雅各的子孫總共有七十人。那時，約瑟已經住在埃及。 6後來，約瑟和他的弟兄以及同輩的人都相繼去世。 7以色列人生養眾多，人口大增，很快就遍佈埃及，成為一個強大的民族。 8後來，埃及有一位不認識約瑟的新王登基， 9對他的百姓說：「你們看，以色列人比我們多，又比我們強。 10來吧！我們要設法阻止他們人口增多，否則一遇到戰爭，他們便會加入我們敵人的陣營來攻打我們，然後一走了之。」
11於是，埃及人派監工強迫以色列人服勞役，在比東和蘭塞兩地為法老興建儲貨城。 12以色列人越受奴役，人口增長得越快，散居的範圍也越廣，令埃及人感到恐懼。 13於是，埃及人殘酷地奴役他們， 14強迫他們和泥造磚，並做田間一切的苦工，使他們痛苦不堪。埃及人殘酷地奴役他們做苦工。 15埃及王又命令兩個希伯來的接生婆施弗拉和普阿： 16「你們在替希伯來婦女接生的時候，如果看到生下的是男嬰，就把他殺掉；如果是女嬰，就讓她活下來。」 17但這兩個接生婆敬畏上帝，沒有執行埃及王的命令，而是保留了男嬰的性命。 18埃及王召見那兩個接生婆，質問她們：「你們為什麼這樣做？為什麼讓男嬰活著？」 19她們回答說：「因為希伯來婦女跟埃及婦女不同。她們身體強壯，我們還沒有趕到，嬰兒就生下來了。」 20-21因此，以色列人口繼續增加，更加繁盛。因為這兩個接生婆敬畏上帝，上帝便賜福給她們，使她們生兒育女。 22後來，法老命令全埃及的人把以色列人生的所有男嬰都拋進尼羅河裡，只讓女嬰活著。
