Exodus 2

¹Aftir these thingis a man of `the hows of Leuy yede out, and took a wijf of his kyn,

²which conseyuede, and childide a sone. And sche seiy hym wel farynge, and hidde him bi thre monethis.

³And whanne sche myyte not hele, thanne sche took a `leep of segge, and bawmede it with tar and pitch, and puttide the yong child with ynne, and puttide hym forth in a `place of spier of the brenke of the flood,

⁴the while his sistir stood afer, and bihelde the bifalling of the thing.

⁵Lo! forsothe the douytir of Farao cam doun to be waischun in the flood, and hir damysels walkiden bi the brenke of the flood. And whanne sche hadde seyn a leep in the `place of spier, sche sente oon of hir seruauntessis,

⁶and sche openyde the leep brouyt to hir, and seiy a litil child wepynge ther ynne. And sche hadde mercy on the child, and seide, It is of the yonge children of Ebrews.

⁷To whom the `sister of the child seide, Wolt thou that Y go, and clepe to thee an Ebrew womman, that may nurische the yong child?

⁸She answeride, Go thou. The damysel yede, and clepide the `modir of the child.

⁹To whom `the douytir of Farao spak, and seide, Take thou this child, and nurische to me; Y schal yyue to thee thi mede. The womman took, and nurischide the child, and bitook hym woxun to `the douytir of Farao,

¹⁰whom sche purchaside `in to the place of sone; and sche clepide his name Moises, and seide, For Y took hym fro the watir.

¹¹In tho daies, aftir that Moises encreesside, he yede out to hise britheren, and seiy the turment of hem, and a man Egipcian smytynge `oon of Ebrews, hise britheren.

¹²And whanne he hadde biholdun hidur and thidir, and hadde seyn, that no man was present, he killide the Egipcian, and hidde in soond.

¹³And he yede out in another dai, and seiy tweyne Ebrews chidynge, and he seide to hym that dide wrong, Whi smytist thou thi brother?

¹⁴Which answeride, Who ordeynede thee prince, ether iuge on vs? Whether thou wolt sle me, as thou killidist yisterdai the Egipcian? Moises dredde, and seide, Hou is this word maad opun?

¹⁵And Farao herde this word, and souyte to sle Moyses, which fledde fro his siyt, and dwellide in the lond of Madian, and sat bisidis a pit.

¹⁶Forsothe seuene douytris weren to the preest of Madian, that camen to drawe watir; and whanne the trouyis weren fillid, thei coueitiden to watere `the flockis of her fadir.

¹⁷Scheepherdis camen aboue, and dreuen hem awei; and Moises roos, and defendide the dameselis; and he watride `the scheep of hem.

¹⁸And whanne thei hadden turned ayen to Jetro, her fadir, he seide to hem, Whi camen ye swiftliere than ye weren wont?

¹⁹Thei answeriden, A man of Egipt delyuerede vs fro the hond of scheepherdis; ferthermore and he drow watir with vs, and yaf drynk to the scheep.

²⁰And he seide, Where is that man? whi leften ye the man? clepe ye hym, that he ete breed.

²¹Therfor Moises swoor, that he wolde dwelle with Jetro; and he took a wijf, Sefora, `the douyter of Jetro.

²²And sche childide a sone to hym, whom he clepide Gersan, and seide, Y was a comelyng in an alyen lond. Forsothe sche childide an othir sone, whom he clepide Eliezer, and seide, For God of my fadir is myn helpere, and delyuerede me fro the hond of Farao.

²³Forsothe aftir myche tyme the kyng of Egipt diede, and the sones of Israel inwardli weiliden for werkis, and crieden, and the cry of hem for werkis stiede to God.

²⁴And he herde the weilyng of hem, and he hadde mynde of the boond of pees, which he hadde maad with Abraham, Ysaac, and Jacob; and he bihelde the sones of Israel,

²⁵and knewe hem.

Exodus 2

¹And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

²And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

³And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

⁴And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

⁵And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

⁶And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.

⁷Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

⁸And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.

⁹And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.

¹⁰And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

¹¹And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

¹²And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

¹³And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

¹⁴And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

¹⁵Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

¹⁷And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

¹⁹And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

²⁰And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

²¹And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

²²And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

²³And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

²⁴And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

²⁵And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.