Exodus 1-2
Israel Increases Greatly in Egypt
aThese are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the descendants of Jacob were aseventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Then aJoseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 aBut the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
Pharaoh Oppresses Israel
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, awho did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, athe people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 aCome, blet us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them ato afflict them with heavy bburdens. They built for Pharaoh cstore cities, Pithom and dRaamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel awork as slaves 14 and amade their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives afeared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 aSo God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, ahe gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, a“Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into bthe Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
The Birth of Moses
Now a aman from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and awhen she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the areeds by the river bank. 4 And ahis sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became aher son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I bdrew him out of the water.”
Moses Flees to Midian
11 One day, awhen Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their bburdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he astruck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When ahe went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, a“Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But aMoses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by ba well.
16 Now the apriest of Midian had seven daughters, and bthey came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and awatered their flock. 18 When they came home to their father aReuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and awatered the flock.” 20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may aeat bread.” 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter aZipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name aGershom, for he said, “I have been a bsojourner in a foreign land.”
God Hears Israel’s Groaning
23 aDuring those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel bgroaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. cTheir cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And aGod heard their groaning, and God bremembered his covenant with cAbraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God asaw the people of Israel—and God bknew.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.