1 These 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 Is′sachar, Zeb′ulun, and Benjamin, ⁴ Dan and Naph′tali, Gad and Asher. ⁵ All the offspring of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶ Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. ⁷ But the descendants of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong; so that the land was filled with them.

The Israelites Are Oppressed

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. ¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war befall us, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens; and they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raam′ses. 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 made the people of Israel serve with rigor, ¹⁴ and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field; in all their work they made them serve with rigor.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiph′rah and the other Pu′ah, ¹⁶ “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives feared 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 are delivered before the midwife comes to them.” ²⁰ So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and grew very strong. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God he gave them families. ²² Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews^[a] you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

Birth and Youth of Moses

2 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi. ² The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. ³ And when she could hide him no longer she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river’s brink. ⁴ And his 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, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. ⁶ When she opened it she saw the child; and lo, the babe 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 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses,^[b] for she said, “Because I drew him out^[c] of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. ¹² He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the man that did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?” ¹⁴ He answered, “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 Moses fled from Pharaoh, and stayed in the land of Mid′ian; and he sat down by a well. ¹⁶ Now the priest of Mid′ian had seven daughters; and they 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 helped them, and watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came to their father Reu′el, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?” ¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” ²⁰ He said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” ²¹ And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daugher Zippo′rah. ²² She bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, “I have been a sojourner^[d] in a foreign land.”

²³ In the course of those many days the king of Egypt died. And the people of Israel groaned under their bondage, and cried out for help, and their cry under bondage came up to God. ²⁴ And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ And God saw the people of Israel, and God knew their condition.

The Burnt Offering

1 The Lord called Moses, and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of cattle from the herd or from the flock.

³ “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord; ⁴ he shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. ⁵ Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall present the blood, and throw the blood round about against the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁶ And he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces; ⁷ and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order upon the fire; ⁸ and Aaron’s sons the priests shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; ⁹ but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn the whole on the altar, as a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord.

¹⁰ “If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall offer a male without blemish; ¹¹ and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw its blood against the altar round about. ¹² And he shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall lay them in order upon the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; ¹³ but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer the whole, and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord.

¹⁴ “If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or of young pigeons. ¹⁵ And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar; ¹⁶ and he shall take away its crop with the feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes; ¹⁷ he shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it asunder. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, upon the wood that is on the fire; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord.

National Lament and Prayer for Help

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.