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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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The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
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Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
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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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“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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They 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.
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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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So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.
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And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
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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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“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
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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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Moses and the Burning Bush
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
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When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
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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?”
