c Understood as “See a son.”
d Heb. ra’ah, connected with the first part of “Reuben.”
e Heb. ye’ehabani, connected with the last part of “Reuben.”
f Heb. shama’, connected with “Simeon.”
g Heb. yillaweh, connected with “Levi.”
h Heb. ’odeh, connected with “Judah.”
a Heb. dananni, connected with “Dan.”
b-b Heb. naphtule … naphtalti, connected with “Naphtali.” Lit. “A contest of God …”
c Kethib begad; the qere reads ba gad “luck has come”; connected with “Gad.”
d Heb. be’oshri, connected with “Asher.”
e Heb. sekhari, connected with “Issachar.”
f Heb. zebadani … zebed.
g Heb. yizbeleni; others “will dwell with me.”
h Heb. ’asaph.
i Heb. yoseph.
j Lit. “If I have found favor in your eyes.”
k Lit. “flocks.”
l Or “early-breeding.”
m Or “late-breeding.”
a Lit. “ten times.”
b-b Lit. “I raised my eyes and saw in a dream, behold.”
c-c Lit. “stole the mind of Laban the Aramean”; similarly in v. 26.
d Lit. “I was.”
e Lit. “ten times.”
f Meaning of Heb. pahad uncertain.
g Aramaic for “the mound (or, stone-heap) of witness.”
h Heb. for “the mound (or, stone-heap) of witness,” reflecting the name Gilead, v. 23.
i Heb. yiseph, associated with Mizpah.
a Connected with Heb. mahaneh, “camp.”
b-b Or “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob,’ …”
c Heb. saritha, connected with first part of “Israel.”
d-d Or “God (Elohim, connected with second part of ‘Israel’) and men.”
e Understood as “face of God.”
a Meaning “stalls,” “huts,” “booths.”
b Heb. qesitah, a unit of unknown value.
c “El, God of Israel.”
a-a Lit. “gate.”
b-b I.e., all his fellow townsmen.
a “The God of Bethel.”
b Understood as “the oak of the weeping.”
c Cf. 17.1.
d Understood as “son of my suffering (or, strength).”
e I.e., “son of the right hand,” or “son of the south.”
f Lit. “Isaac.”
a Cf. v. 20, “Horite.”
b Heb. “and Aiah.”
c Meaning of Heb. yemim uncertain.
d Heb. Dishan; but cf. vv. 21, 25, 28, and 30, and 1 Chron. 1.41.
e Or “Shaul.”
a Or “a coat of many colors”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b Heb. “Medanites.”
a Cf. Deut. 25.5.
b Lit. “spoil on the ground.”
c-c Lit. “he was comforted.”
d Cf. Enam, Josh. 15.34. Others “in an open place” or “at the crossroad.”
e Heb. peres.
f I.e., “brightness,” perhaps alluding to the crimson thread.
a Lit. “his.”
a Lit. “lift up your head.”
b Others “baskets with white bread” or “white baskets”; meaning of Heb. hori uncertain.
c Lit. “lifted the head of.”
a Others “take a fifth part of”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b Others “order themselves” or “pay homage”; meaning of Heb. vishshaq uncertain.
c Others “Bow the knee,” as though from Heb. barakh “to kneel”; perhaps from an Egyptian word of unknown meaning.
d Egyptian for “God speaks; he lives,” or “creator of life.”
e-e Lit. “the seven years that were in the land of Egypt.”
f Heb. nashshani, connected with “Manasseh” (Menashsheh).
g Heb. hiprani, connected with “Ephraim.”
a Lit. “Jacob.”
a-a Lit. “Do not see my face.”
b Lit. “by its weight.”
c Lit. “five.”
a-a Lit. “see the man’s face.”
a Lit. “fell on.”
b Lit. “five”; cf. 43.34.
a Or “Hanoch.”
b Or “Shaul.”
c Including Jacob.
d Heb. “sons.”
e Not including Joseph and Joseph’s two sons.
f Including Jacob and Joseph.
g Lit. “hitched.”
a Lit. “five.”
b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a Lit. “under the name.”
b Meaning of Heb. shekhem uncertain; others “mountain slope.”
a-a Heb. labi, another word for “lion.”
b Shiloh, understood as shai loh “tribute to him,” following Midrash; cf. Isa. 18.7. Meaning of Heb. uncertain; lit. “Until he comes to Shiloh.”
c-c Or “His eyes are dark from wine, And his teeth are white from milk.”
d-d Others “Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a spring, Its branches run over a wall.”
e Heb. “the arms of his hands.”
f-f Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
g Meaning of Heb. uncertain; others “booty.”
a Or “the threshing floor of.”
b Interpreted as “the mourning of the Egyptians.”
Exodus
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with his household: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5The total number of persons that were of Jacob’s issue came to seventy, Joseph being already in Egypt. 6Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. 7But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them.
8A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 9And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. 10Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and a-rise from the ground.”-a 11So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison citiesb for Pharaoh: Pi- thom and Raamses. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Is- raelites.
13The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites 14c-the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly-c they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field.
15The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool:d if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” 17The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live?” 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous.
Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” 20And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and increased greatly. 21And because the midwives feared God, He established house- holdse for them. 22Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
2 A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. 3When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him.
5The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. 6When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.” 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?” 8And Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moses,a explaining, “I drew him out of the water.”
11Some time after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a He- brew, one of his kinsmen. 12He turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand 13When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting; so he said to the offender, “Why do you strike your fellow?” 14He retorted, “Who made you chief and ruler over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was frightened, and thought: Then the matter is known! 15When Pharaoh learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrivedb in the land of Midian, and sat down beside a well.
16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock; 17but shepherds came and drove them off. Moses rose to their defense, and he watered their flock. 18When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come back so soon today?” 19They answered, “An Egyp- tian rescued us from the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20He said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why did you leave the man? Ask him in to break bread.” 21Moses consented to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah as wife. 22She bore a son whom he named Gershom,c for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
23A long time after that, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God. 24God heard their moaning, and God re- membered His covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 25God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.
3 Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2An angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a
