1 以色列的众子,各带家眷和雅各一同来到埃及,他们的名字记在下面。 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: |
2 有流便,西缅,利未,犹大, Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; |
3 以萨迦,西布伦,便雅悯, Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; |
4 但,拿弗他利,迦得,亚设。 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. |
5 凡从雅各而生的,共有七十人。约瑟已经在埃及。 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. |
6 约瑟和他的弟兄,并那一代的人都死了。 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, |
7 以色列人生养众多,并且繁茂,极其强盛,满了那地。 but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. |
8 有不认识约瑟的新王起来,治理埃及, Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. |
9 对他的百姓说,看哪,这以色列民比我们还多,又比我们强盛。 "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. |
10 来吧,我们不如用巧计待他们,恐怕他们多起来,日后若遇什么争战的事,就联合我们的仇敌攻击我们,离开这地去了。 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 于是埃及人派督工的辖制他们,加重担苦害他们。他们为法老建造两座积货城,就是比东和兰塞。 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 只是越发苦害他们,他们越发多起来,越发蔓延,埃及人就因以色列人愁烦。 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites |
13 埃及人严严地使以色列人作工, and worked them ruthlessly. |
14 使他们因作苦工觉得命苦,无论是和泥,是做砖,是作田间各样的工,在一切的工上都严严地待他们。 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 有希伯来的两个收生婆,一名施弗拉,一名普阿,埃及王对她们说, The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, |
16 你们为希伯来妇人收生,看她们临盆的时候,若是男孩,就把他杀了,若是女孩,就留她存活。 "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 埃及王召了收生婆来,说,你们为什么作这事,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 收生婆对法老说,因为希伯来妇人与埃及妇人不同,希伯来妇人本是健壮的(原文作活泼的),收生婆还没有到,她们已经生产了。 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。以色列人多起来,极其强盛。 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. |
21 收生婆因为敬畏神,神便叫她们成立家室。 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. |
22 法老吩咐他的众民说,以色列人所生的男孩,你们都要丢在河里,一切的女孩,你们要存留她的性命。 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." |