1 以色列的眾子、各帶家眷和雅各一同來到埃及、他們的名字記在下面。
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: |
2 有流便、西緬、利未、猶大、
Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; |
3 以薩迦、西布倫、便雅憫、
Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; |
4 但、拿弗他利、迦得、亞設。
Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. |
5 凡從雅各而生的、共有七十人.約瑟已經在埃及。
The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. |
6 約瑟和他的弟兄、並那一代的人都死了。
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, |
7 以色列人生養眾多並且繁茂、極其強盛、滿了那地。
but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. |
8 有不認識約瑟的新王起來、治理埃及。
Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. |
9 對他的百姓說、看哪、這以色列民比我們還多、又比我們強盛.
"Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. |
10 來罷我們不如用巧計待他們、恐怕他們多起來、日後若遇甚麼爭戰的事、就連合我們的仇敵攻擊我們、離開這地去了。
Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country." |
11 於是埃及人派督工的轄制他們、加重擔苦害他們.他們為法老建造兩座積貨城、就是比東、和蘭塞。
So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. |
12 只是越發苦害他們、他們越發多起來、越發蔓延.埃及人就因以色列人愁煩。
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites |
13 埃及人嚴嚴的使以色列人作工。
and worked them ruthlessly. |
14 使他們因作苦工覺得命苦、無論是和泥、是做磚、是作田間各樣的工、在一切的工上都嚴嚴的待他們。
They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. |
15 有希伯來的兩個收生婆、一名施弗拉、一名普阿.埃及王對他們說、
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, |
16 你們為希伯來婦人收生、看他們臨盆的時候、若是男孩、就把他殺了、若是女孩、就留他存活。
"When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." |
17 但是收生婆敬畏 神、不照埃及王的吩咐行、竟存留男孩的性命。
The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. |
18 埃及王召了收生婆來、說、你們為甚麼作這事、存留男孩的性命呢。
Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?" |
19 收生婆對法老說、因為希伯來婦人與埃及婦人不同、希伯來婦人本是健壯的、〔原文作活潑的〕收生婆還沒有到、他們已經生產了。
The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive." |
20 神厚待收生婆.以色列人多起來、極其強盛。
So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. |
21 收生婆因為敬畏 神、 神便叫他們成立家室。
And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. |
22 法老吩咐他的眾民說、以色列人所生的男孩、你們都要丟在河裡、一切的女孩、你們要存留他的性命。
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live." |