Parashat Shemot

More Israelites, more problems

And these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came to Egypt with Jacob, each man and his household came:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;
Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
Dan and Naphtali;
Gad and Asher.

All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy, for Joseph was already in Egypt.
Now Joseph, his brothers and all that generation died. But the sons of Israel were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly in abundance; the land was filled with them.

Then a new king, who didn't know about Joseph, rose to power in Egypt.
— Look, — he said to his people — the Israelis are in large numbers and are mightier than us. Come, let's be smart with them, or else they'll multiply and, if a war breaks out, they'll join our enemies and fight against us and leave the land.
So they set taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built supply cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and the Egyptians abhorred the Israelis even more. So Egypt made Israel serve severely and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick, and with all types of service in the fields. All service the Egyptians commanded them to do was with harshness.
Then the king of Egypt said to the midwives of the Hebrews, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah:
— When you help the Hebrew women give birth, see them on the birthstools. If it is a son, then you'll kill him, but if it is a daughter, then she'll live.
But the midwives feared God and didn't do as the king of Egypt commanded them, and let the male children stay alive. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them:
— Why have you done this thing and let the male children stay alive?”
The midwives said to Pharaoh:
— The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, because they are lively and, before the midwives come to deliver them, they give birth.
So God was good to the midwives, and He multiplied the people and they grew very mighty. And so because the midwives feared God, He provided families for them.

So Pharaoh commanded all his people:
— Every son who is born, you shall cast into the river, and every daughter, you shall let them stay alive.

Moses is born

A Levite man went and married a Levite woman. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was good, she hid him for three months. But when she couldn't hide him any longer, she made him a papyrus ark and fermented it with asphalt and pitch. Then she put the child in it and laid it in the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
His sister stood far off, to know what would happen to him.
Then Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe in the Nile and her maidens walked along the side of the Nile. When she saw the box among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to take it. And when she opened it, she saw the child and look! the little boy wept.
So Pharaoh’s daughter had compassion on him and said:
— This is one of the Hebrew children.

The baby's sister said to her:
— Should I go and call a nurse from the Hebrew women so she may nurse the child for you?
— Go — she said.
So the young girl went and called the boy's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter told her:
— Take this boy and nurse him for me, and I'll pay your salary.
So the woman took the boy and nursed him. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. So he called him Moses and explained:
— I drew him out of the waters.

Moses, the fugitive

In those days, when Moses had grown up, when he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens, he noticed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew of his brothers. So, after looking in all directions and seeing no one around, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
The next day, he went out and saw two Hebrew men fighting each other. He said to the one in the wrong:
— Why are you attacking your friend?
But the man replied:
— Who made you prince and judge over us? Are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?
Then Moses feared and said:
— Surely what I did has become known.
When Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to kill Moses, but he fled from Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came, drew water and filled the troughs to give their father's flock to drink. When shepherds came and drove them away, Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. The girls went to Reuel, their father. He said:
— Why have you returned so early today?
They said:
— An Egyptian delivered us from the hands of the shepherds. Also he even drew water for us and gave the flock to drink.
Then Reuel said to his daughters:
— So where is he? Why did you leave the man there? Call him to eat some bread.
Moses was happy to live with Reuel. He gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. She bore him a son and he called him Gershom, explaining:
— I have been a stranger in a strange land.

After many days had passed, the king of Egypt died. The Israelis groaned because of the bondage and they cried out, and their cries of slavery bondage went up to God. So God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelis and took notice.

Moses meets Yahweh and is commissioned to release Israel

Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and, leading the flock behind the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of Yahweh appeared to Moses in a fiery flame from the midst of a bramble. So Moses looked and saw that the bramble was burning with fire, but it wasn't consumed. Moses said:
— I'll turn aside now to see this great sight. Why does the bramble not burn up?
When Yahweh saw that Moses turned aside to look, God then called to him from the midst of the bramble:
— Moses! Moses!
— Here I am — said Moses.
— Do not come near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, because the place you're standing on is holy ground. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Then Yahweh continued:
— Surely I have seen the affliction of My people, who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their oppressors, because I know their pain. So I have come down to snatch them from Egypt and bring them up from their land to a land that flows with milk and honey, to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Now look, the cry of the Israelis has come to me and I have seen also the oppression with which Egypt oppressed them. Therefore come and I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring My people, the Israelis, out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God:
— Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelis out of Egypt?
God replied:
— I will surely be with you. And this will be a sign to you, that I have sent you: when you have sent your people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.
Moses said:
— Suppose I come to the Israelis and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ What will I say to them?
God replied:
— I am who I am. Thus you will say to the Israelis, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ You will say to the Israelis, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - has sent to you.’ This is My name forever and My memorial to all generations. Go and gather together the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - has appeared to me, saying: ‘I have indeed visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt. And I have promised I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, to a land that flows with milk and honey.’ They will listen to you, and you and the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’ But I know he will not let you go unless by a mighty hand. So I stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all my wonders, which I will do in their midst. After that, then he'll let you go. I will favor these people in the presence of the Egyptians and, when you leave, you will not go empty-handed. But every woman will ask her neighbor - and any woman staying in her house - for articles of silver, of gold and for clothing. You will put them on your sons and daughters - thus you will plunder Egypt.
But Moses answered:
— But suppose they won't believe me or listen to my voice. Suppose they say, “Yahweh hasn't appeared to you.”
Yahweh asked:
— What's that in your hand?
— A staff — Moses replied.
— Throw it on the ground.
So Moses threw it on the ground and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it.
Yahweh said:
— Reach out and grab it by the tail.
He reached out and grabbed it, and it became a staff in his hand.
Yahweh said:
— This is so they may believe Yahweh has appeared to you - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now put your hand in your bosom.
He put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, it became leprous like snow.
Yahweh said:
— Put your hand again in your bosom.
So he put it again in his bosom and when he took it out, it became like his flesh again.
Yahweh said:
— If they don't believe you nor listen to the message of the first sign, they might believe in the second one. And if they don't believe in these two signs, or listen to your voice, you'll take water from the Nile river and pour it on the dry land, and the waters will become blood on it.
But Moses said to Him:
— Please, my Lord, I'm not an eloquent man - yesterday, before yesterday and even ever since You spoke to Your servant - but I'm of slow speech and slow tongue.
Then Yahweh said to him:
— Who has made the mouth of mankind? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I, Yahweh? Then go now. I will be with your mouth and I will teach you what you'll say. But Moses said:
— Please, my Lord, send whomever You wish to send.
Then Yahweh’s anger burned against Moses and He said:
— How about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well, and he is now coming to meet you - and when he sees you, then he'll be glad in his heart. You will speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and his mouth and I will teach the two of you what to do. So Aaron will speak for you to the people, he will be as a mouth for you and you will be like God to him. And you, Moses, will take this rod in your hand, with which you will perform the signs.

So Moses returned to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him:
— Please, let me go and return to my brothers in Egypt, to see whether they're still alive.”
— Go in peace — said Jethro.

Then Yahweh said to Moses in Midian:
— Go, return to Egypt, because those who wanted to kill you are dead.
So Moses took his wife and his sons, set them on a donkey and returned to Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand.
And Yahweh said to Moses:
— When you go back to Egypt, make sure to do before Pharaoh those wonders which I have put in your hand. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he won't let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Yahweh: Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you: let My son go, so he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, look! I will kill your son, your firstborn.’

Now at the encampment along the way, Yahweh met Moses there and sought to kill him. But Zipporah took a sharp flint and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet. She said:
— Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.
(She said that because of the circumcision.) Then Yahweh let him go.
Now Yahweh had told Aaron:
— Go meet Moses in the wilderness.
So Aaron went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh, who had sent him, and all the signs He had commanded him.
Then they went and gathered together all the Israeli elders and Aaron spoke all the words that Yahweh had spoken to Moses. And Moses did the signs in front of the people. So the people believed. When they heard that Yahweh had visited the Israelis and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

Moses and Pharaoh's first encounter

Afterwards, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh:
— Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, so they may hold a feast for Me in the wilderness.’
But Pharaoh said:
— Who is this Yahweh, that I should obey his command to let Israel go? I don’t know this Yahweh and I will not let Israel go.
So they said:
— The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day journey into the desert to sacrifice to our God Yahweh, lest He meet us with pestilence or with the sword.
And Pharaoh said:
— Moses and Aaron, why do you lead the people away from their work? Get back to work! Look, the people of the land are many now and you’re giving rest from their labor!

So that day Pharaoh gave the taskmasters of the people and their officials this command:
— You will no longer give straw to the people to make bricks, as you used to. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. But lay on them the same quota of bricks that they made before; don’t reduce it. They’re weak and idle. That’s why they say: ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to our God.’ Make the labor harder for these men so that they may work more and pay less attention to false words.
The taskmasters of the people and their officials told the people:
— Thus says Pharaoh: ‘No straws for you all. You go get straw by yourselves, wherever you can find it. But your labor will not be reduced.’
So the people went abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. And the taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Finish your job

Parashat Beshalach

Yahweh provides drink and food for Israel

Then all the congregation of the Israelites continued their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, as Yahweh had commanded, and camped in Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people complained to Moses:
— Give us water to drink!
But Moses told them:
— Why are you complaining with me? Why are you testing Yahweh?
So there the people thirsted for water and they complained with Moses:
— Why did you even bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our kids and our livestock of thirst?
So Moses cried out to Yahweh:
— What am I gonna do with these people? A little more and they’re gonna stone me!
Then Yahweh said to Moses:
— Go on before the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take your rod you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. Look, I’ll stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You’ll strike the rock and water will come out of it, so that the people can drink.
So Moses did this in front of the elders of Israel. Then he named the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the Israelis and because they tested Yahweh, saying:
— Is Yahweh among us or not?

[...]

Translation in progress.