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The Israelites Oppressed
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
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Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
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but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
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Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.
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“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.
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But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
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The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,
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“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.”
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The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.
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Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
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Then 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.”
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She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
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The 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.”
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“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
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Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
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During 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.
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God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.
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So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
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“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
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Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
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And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
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So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
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But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
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And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
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Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
