Acts 7:6-48 in English

⁶ And God spake on this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage, and treat them ill, four hundred years.

⁷ And the nation to which they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt: and God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now there came a famine over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time.

¹³ And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s race became manifest unto Pharaoh.

¹⁴ And Joseph sent, and called to him Jacob his father, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

¹⁵ And Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, himself and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were carried over unto Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver of the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ But as the time of the promise drew nigh which God vouchsafed unto Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ till there arose another king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ The same dealt craftily with our race, and ill-treated our fathers, that they should cast out their babes to the end they might not live.

²⁰ At which season Moses was born, and was exceeding fair; and he was nourished three months in his father’s house:

²¹ and when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

²² And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was well-nigh forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, smiting the Egyptian:

²⁵ and he supposed that his brethren understood that God by his hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not.

²⁶ And the day following he appeared unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

²⁷ But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Wouldest thou kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹ And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord,

³² I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

³³ And the Lord said unto him, Loose the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I am come down to deliver them: and now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? him hath God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them forth, having wrought wonders and signs in Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses, who said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me.

³⁸ This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel that spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received living oracles to give unto us:

³⁹ to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and turned back in their hearts unto Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying unto Aaron, Make us gods that shall go before us: for as for this Moses, who led us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, Did ye offer unto me slain beasts and sacrifices Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of the god Rephan, The figures which ye made to worship them: And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he appointed who spake unto Moses, that he should make it according to the figure that he had seen.

⁴⁵ Which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered on the possession of the nations, that God thrust out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands; as saith the prophet,

⁶ And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

⁷ And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

¹⁰ And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

¹³ And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

¹⁵ So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

¹⁶ And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

¹⁷ But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

²⁰ In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months:

²¹ And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

²³ And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

²⁵ For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

²⁶ And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

²⁷ But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹ Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

³² Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

³³ Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴ I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

³⁸ This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

³⁹ To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

⁴⁰ Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴² Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

⁴³ Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

⁴⁵ Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

⁴⁶ Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him an house.

⁴⁸ Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

⁶ And God spake on this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil, four hundred years.

⁷ And the nation to which they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt: and God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now there came a famine over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time.

¹³ And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s race became manifest unto Pharaoh.

¹⁴ And Joseph sent, and called to him Jacob his father, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

¹⁵ And Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, himself, and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were carried over unto Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver of the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ But as the time of the promise drew nigh, which God vouchsafed unto Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ till there arose another king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ The same dealt subtilly with our race, and evil entreated our fathers, that they should cast out their babes to the end they might not live.

²⁰ At which season Moses was born, and was exceeding fair; and he was nourished three months in his father’s house:

²¹ and when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

²² And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was well-nigh forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, smiting the Egyptian:

²⁵ and he supposed that his brethren understood how that God by his hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not.

²⁶ And the day following he appeared unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

²⁷ But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Wouldest thou kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹ And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord,

³² I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

³³ And the Lord said unto him, Loose the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I am come down to deliver them: and now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? him hath God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them forth, having wrought wonders and signs in Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me.

³⁸ This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received living oracles to give unto us:

³⁹ to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and turned back in their hearts unto Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying unto Aaron, Make us gods which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, which led us forth out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, Did ye offer unto me slain beasts and sacrifices Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of the god Rephan, The figures which ye made to worship them: And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he appointed who spake unto Moses, that he should make it according to the figure that he had seen.

⁴⁵ Which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered on the possession of the nations, which God thrust out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

⁴⁶ who found favour in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands; as saith the prophet,

⁶ “ Later God told Abraham, ‘Your descendants will go and live in a foreign country. They will live there for four hundred years, and during that time their leaders will mistreat your descendants and force them to work as slaves.’

⁷ But God also said, ‘I will punish the people who make them work as slaves. Then, after that, your descendants will leave that land and they will come and worship me in this land.’ ”

⁸ “Then God commanded Abraham that every male in his household and all of his male descendants should be circumcised to show that they all belonged to God and that they would obey what he had told Abraham to do. Later Abraham's son, Isaac, was born, and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. Later Isaac's son, Jacob, was born, and Isaac similarly circumcised him. And Jacob similarly circumcised his twelve sons. They are the twelve men from whom we(inc) Jews have all descended.”

⁹ “ You know that Jacob's older sons became jealous because their father favored their younger brother Joseph. So they sold him to merchants/traders who took him MTY to Egypt. There he became a slave of an official who lived there. But God helped Joseph.

¹⁰ He protected him whenever people caused him to suffer. He enabled Joseph to be wise; and he caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to think well of Joseph. So Pharaoh appointed him to rule over Egypt and to look after all of Pharaoh's property MTY.”

¹¹ “ While Joseph was doing that work, there was a time ◄when there was very little food/of famine► throughout Egypt and also throughout Canaan. People did not have enough food to eat. People were suffering. At that time Jacob and his sons in Canaan also could not find enough food.

¹² When Jacob heard people report that there was grain/food that people could buy in Egypt, he sent Joseph's older brothers to go there to buy grain. They went and bought grain from Joseph, but they did not recognize him. Then they returned home.

¹³ When Joseph's brothers went to Egypt the second time, they again bought grain from Joseph. But this time he told them who he was. And people told Pharaoh that Joseph's people were Hebrews and that those men who had come from Canaan were his brothers.

¹⁴ Then after Joseph sent his brothers back home, they told their father Jacob that Joseph wanted him and his entire family to come to Egypt. At that time ◄ Jacob's family consisted of seventy-five people/there were seventy-five people in Jacob's family► SYN.

¹⁵ So when Jacob heard that, he and all his family went to live in Egypt.” Acts 7:15b-16 “ Later on, Jacob died there, and our other ancestors, his sons, also died there.

¹⁶ But the bodies of Jacob and Joseph were brought { they brought the bodies of Jacob and Joseph} back to our land, and Jacob's body was buried {they buried Jacob's body} in the tomb that Abraham had bought, and they buried Joseph's body in Shechem in the ground that Jacob had bought from Hamor's sons.”

¹⁷ “Our ancestors had become very numerous when it was almost time for God to rescue them from Egypt, as he had promised Abraham that he would do.

¹⁸ Another king had begun to rule in Egypt. He did not know that Joseph, long before that time, had greatly helped the people of Egypt MTY.

¹⁹ That king cruelly tried to get rid of our ancestors. He oppressed them and caused them to suffer greatly. He even commanded them to leave their baby boys outside their homes so that they would die.”

²⁰ “During that time Moses was born, and he was a very beautiful LIT child. So his parents secretly cared for him in their house for three months.

²¹ Then they had to put him outside the house, but Pharaoh's daughter found him and adopted him and cared for him as though he were her own son.

²² Moses was taught { The Egyptian teachers taught Moses} many kinds of wise things HYP that the people in Egypt knew, and when he grew up, he spoke powerfully and did things powerfully.”

²³ “ One day when Moses was about forty years old, he decided that he would go and see his fellow Israelis. So he went to the place where they worked.

²⁴ He saw an Egyptian beating one of the Israels. So he went over to help MTY the Israeli man who was being hurt/beat {whom the Egyptian was hurting/beating}, and he ◄got revenge on/paid back► the Israeli man by killing the Egyptian who was hurting/beating him.

²⁵ Moses was thinking that his fellow Israelis would understand that God had sent him to free them from being slaves. But they did not understand that.

²⁶ The next day, Moses saw two Israeli men fighting each other. He tried to make them stop fighting by saying to them, ‘Men, you two are fellow Israelis! So ◄stop hurting each other!/why are you hurting each other?► RHQ’

²⁷ But the man who was injuring the other man pushed Moses away and said to him, ‘◄No one appointed you (sg) to rule and judge us (exc)!/Do you (sg) think someone appointed you (sg) to rule and judge us (exc)?► RHQ

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ When Moses heard that, he thought to himself, ‘Obviously, people know what I have done, and someone will kill me.’ He was afraid, so he fled from Egypt to Midian land. He lived there for some years. He got married, and he and his wife had two sons.”

³⁰ “ One day forty years later, the Lord God appeared as an angel to Moses. He appeared in a bush that was burning in the desert near Sinai Mountain.

³¹ When Moses saw that, he was greatly surprised, because the bush was not burning up. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord God say to him,

³² ‘I am the God whom your ancestors worshipped. I am the God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob worship.’ Moses was so afraid that he began to shake. He was afraid to look at the bush any longer.

³³ Then the Lord God said to him, ‘Take your sandals off to show that you(sg) revere me. Because I am here, the place where you are standing is holy/sacred.

³⁴ I have surely seen how the people of Egypt are continually causing my people to suffer. I have heard my people when they groan because those people continually oppress them. So I have come down to rescue them from Egypt. Now get ready, because I am going to send you back to Egypt to do that.’ ”

³⁵ “This Moses is the one who had tried to help our Israeli people, but whom they rejected by saying, ‘No one RHQ appointed you to rule and judge us!’ Moses is the one whom God himself sent to rule them and to free them from being slaves. He is the one whom an angel in the bush commanded to do that.

³⁶ Moses is the one who led our ancestors out from Egypt. He did many kinds of miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and during the forty years that the Israelite people lived in the desert.

³⁷ This Moses is the one who said to the Israelite people, ‘God will appoint a prophet for you from among your own people. He will speak words from God, just like I speak his words to you.’

³⁸ This man Moses was our people's leader when they gathered together in the desert. It is Moses to whom God sent the angel on Mount Sinai to give him our laws, and he was the one who told our other ancestors what the angel had said. He was the one who received from God words that tell us how to live eternally, and Moses passed them on to us.”

³⁹ “ However, our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. Instead, while he was still on the mountain, they rejected him as their leader and decided that they wanted to return to Egypt.

⁴⁰ So they told his older brother Aaron, ‘Make idols for us who will be our gods to lead us back to Egypt! As for that fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt we (exc) do not know what has happened to him!’

⁴¹ So, they made out of gold an image that looked like a calf. Then they sacrificed animals and offered other things to honor that idol, and they sang and danced to honor the idol that they themselves had made.

⁴² So God rejected them. He abandoned them to worship the sun, moon and stars in the sky. This agrees with the words that one of the prophets wrote that God said, You Israelite people MTY, when you repeatedly killed animals and offered them as sacrifices during those forty years that you were in the desert, ◄you most certainly were not offering them to me!/what makes you think that you were offering them to me?► RHQ

⁴³ On the contrary, you carried with you from place to place the tent that contained the idol representing the god Molech that you worshipped. You also carried with you the image of the star called Rephan. Those were idols that you had made, and you worshipped them instead of me. So I will cause you to be taken away { people to take you} from your own country. You will be taken { They will take you} far from your homes to regions even farther than Babylon.”

⁴⁴ “While our ancestors were in the desert, they worshipped God at the tent that showed that he was there with them. They had made the tent exactly like God had commanded Moses to make it. It was exactly like the model that Moses had seen when he was up on the mountain.

⁴⁵ Later on, other ancestors of ours carried that tent with them when Joshua led them into this land. That was during the time that they took this land for themselves, when God forced the people who previously lived here to leave. So the Israelis were able to possess this land. The tent remained in this land and was still here when King David ruled.

⁴⁶ David pleased God, and he asked God to let him build a house where he and all of our Israeli people could worship God.

⁴⁷ But instead, God let David's son Solomon build a house where people could worship God.”

⁴⁸ “However, we(inc) know that God is greater than everything, and he does not live in houses that people SYN have made. It is like the prophet Isaiah wrote. He wrote these words that God had spoken:

⁶ God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’

⁸ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³ On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph.

¹⁹ The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

²¹ When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.

²² Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵ He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

²⁶ “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

³⁹ to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’

⁸ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³ On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph.

¹⁹ The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

²¹ When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.

²² Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵ He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

²⁶ “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

³⁹ to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’

⁸ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³ On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph.

¹⁹ The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

²¹ When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.

²² Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵ He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

²⁶ “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But he who did his neighbour wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from amongst your brothers, like me.’

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

³⁹ to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favour in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ And God said that his seed would be living in a strange land, and that they would make them servants, and be cruel to them for four hundred years.

⁷ And I will be the judge, said God, of that nation which made them servants: and after that, they will come out and give me worship in this place.

⁸ And he made with him the agreement of which circumcision was the sign. And so Abraham had a son, Isaac, and gave him circumcision on the eighth day; and Isaac had a son, Jacob, and Jacob was the father of the twelve heads of the families of Israel.

⁹ And the brothers, moved with envy against Joseph, gave him to the Egyptians for money: but God was with him,

¹⁰ And made him free from all his troubles, and gave him wisdom and the approval of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now there was no food to be had in all Egypt and Canaan, and there was great trouble: and our fathers were not able to get food.

¹² But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³ And the second time his brothers had a meeting with Joseph, and Pharaoh had knowledge of Joseph's family.

¹⁴ Then Joseph sent for Jacob his father and all his family, seventy-five persons.

¹⁵ And Jacob went down to Egypt, and came to his end there, and so did our fathers;

¹⁶ And they were taken over to Shechem, and put to rest in the place which Abraham got for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ But when the time was near for putting into effect the undertaking which God had given to Abraham, the people were increasing in Egypt,

¹⁸ Till another king came to power, who had no knowledge of Joseph.

¹⁹ He, having evil designs against our nation, was cruel to our fathers, and they were forced to put out their young children, so that they might not go on living.

²⁰ At which time Moses came to birth, and he was very beautiful; and he was kept for three months in his father's house:

²¹ And when he was put out, Pharaoh's daughter took him and kept him as her son.

²² And Moses was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, and was great in his words and works.

²³ But when he was almost forty years old, it came into his heart to go and see his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ And seeing one of them being attacked, he went to his help and gave the Egyptian a death-blow:

²⁵ And he was hoping that his brothers would see that God had sent him to be their saviour; but they did not see.

²⁶ And the day after, he came to them, while they were having a fight, and would have made peace between them, saying, Sirs, you are brothers; why do you do wrong to one another?

²⁷ But the man who was doing wrong to his neighbour, pushing him away, said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Will you put me to death as you did the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹ And at these words, Moses went in flight to the land of Midian, and was living there for a time, and had two sons.

³⁰ At the end of forty years, an angel came to him in the waste land of Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn-tree.

³¹ And Moses, seeing it, was full of wonder, and when he came up to have a nearer view of it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying,

³² I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses, shaking with fear, kept his eyes from looking at it.

³³ And the Lord said, Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy.

³⁴ Truly, I have seen the sorrows of my people in Egypt, and their cries have come to my ears, and I have come down to make them free: and now, come, I will send you to Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses, whom they would not have, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? him God sent to be a ruler and a saviour, by the hand of the angel whom he saw in the thorn-tree.

³⁶ This man took them out, having done wonders and signs in Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the waste land, for forty years.

³⁷ This is the same Moses, who said to the children of Israel, God will give you a prophet from among your brothers, like me.

³⁸ This is the man who was in the church in the waste land with the angel who was talking to him in Sinai, and with our fathers; and to him were given the living words of God, so that he might give them to you.

³⁹ By whom our fathers would not be controlled; but they put him on one side, turning back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ And saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him.

⁴¹ And they made the image of a young ox in those days, and made an offering to it, and had joy in the work of their hands.

⁴² But God was turned from them and let them give worship to the stars of heaven, as it says in the book of the prophets, Did you make offerings to me of sheep and oxen for forty years in the waste land, O house of Israel?

⁴³ And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, images which you made to give worship to them: and I will take you away, farther than Babylon.

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the Tent of witness in the waste land, as God gave orders to Moses to make it after the design which he had seen.

⁴⁵ Which our fathers, in their turn, took with them when, with Joshua, they came into the heritage of the nations whom God was driving out before the face of our fathers, till the time of David,

⁴⁶ Who was pleasing to God; and he had a desire to make a holy tent for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon was the builder of his house.

⁴⁸ But still, the Most High has not his resting-place in houses made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ And God spoke thus: His seed shall be a sojourner in a strange land, and they shall enslave them and evil entreat them four hundred years;

⁷ and the nation to which they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God; and after these things they shall come forth and serve me in this place.

⁸ And he gave to him the covenant of circumcision; and thus he begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs, envying Joseph, sold him away into Egypt. And God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his tribulations, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he appointed him chief over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ But a famine came upon all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great distress, and our fathers found no food.

¹² But Jacob, having heard of there being corn in Egypt, sent out our fathers first;

¹³ and the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ And Joseph sent and called down to him his father Jacob and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ And Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers,

¹⁶ and were carried over to Sychem and placed in the sepulchre which Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

¹⁷ But as the time of promise drew near which God had promised to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until another king over Egypt arose who did not know Joseph.

¹⁹ He dealt subtilly with our race, and evil entreated the fathers, casting out their infants that they might not live.

²⁰ In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly lovely, who was nourished three months in the house of his father.

²¹ And when he was cast out, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and brought him up for herself to be for a son.

²² And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

²³ And when a period of forty years was fulfilled to him, it came into his heart to look upon his brethren, the sons of Israel;

²⁴ and seeing a certain one wronged, he defended him, and avenged him that was being oppressed, smiting the Egyptian.

²⁵ For he thought that his brethren would understand that God by his hand was giving them deliverance. But they understood not.

²⁶ And on the morrow he shewed himself to them as they were contending, and compelled them to peace, saying, Ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one another?

²⁷ But he that was wronging his neighbour thrust him away, saying, Who established thee ruler and judge over us?

²⁸ Dost thou wish to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹ And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Madiam, where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai, in a flame of fire of a bush.

³¹ And Moses seeing it wondered at the vision; and as he went up to consider it, there was a voice of the Lord,

³² I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not consider it.

³³ And the Lord said to him, Loose the sandal of thy feet, for the place on which thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the ill treatment of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groan, and have come down to take them out of it; and now, come, I will send thee to Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made thee ruler and judge? him did God send to be a ruler and deliverer with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ He led them out, having wrought wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, A prophet shall God raise up to you out of your brethren like me him shall ye hear.

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received living oracles to give to us;

³⁹ to whom our fathers would not be subject, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, Make us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has happened to him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴² But God turned and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, Have ye offered me victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ Yea, ye took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, the forms which ye made to do homage to them; and I will transport you beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, as he that spoke to Moses commanded to make it according to the model which he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, receiving from their predecessors, brought in with Joshua when they entered into possession of the lands of the nations, whom God drove out from the face of our fathers, until the days of David;

⁴⁶ who found favour before God, and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob;

⁴⁷ but Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ But the Most High dwells not in places made with hands; as says the prophet,

⁶ And God said to him: That his seed should sojourn in a strange country, and that they should bring them under bondage, and treat them evil four hundred years.

⁷ And the nation which they shall serve will I judge, said the Lord; and after these things they shall go out, and shall serve me in this place.

⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs, through envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him,

¹⁰ And delivered him out of all his tribulations: and he gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharao, the king of Egypt; and he appointed him governor over Egypt, and over all his house.

¹¹ Now there came a famine upon all Egypt and Chanaan, and great tribulation; and our fathers found no food.

¹² But when Jacob had heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent our fathers first:

¹³ And at the second time, Joseph was known by his brethren, and his kindred was made known to Pharao.

¹⁴ And Joseph sending, called thither Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ So Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, and our fathers.

¹⁶ And they were translated into Sichem, and were laid in the sepulchre, that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hemor, the son of Sichem.

¹⁷ And when the time of the promise drew near, which God had promised to Abraham, the people increased, and were multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ Till another king arose in Egypt, who knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ This same dealing craftily with our race, afflicted our fathers, that they should expose their children, to the end they might not be kept alive.

²⁰ At the same time was Moses born, and he was acceptable to God: who was nourished three months in his father’s house.

²¹ And when he was exposed, Pharao’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

²² And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and in his deeds.

²³ And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

²⁴ And when he had seen one of them suffer wrong, he defended him; and striking the Egyptian, he avenged him who suffered the injury.

²⁵ And he thought that his brethren understood that God by his hand would save them; but they understood it not.

²⁶ And the day following, he shewed himself to them when they were at strife; and would have reconciled them in peace, saying: Men, ye are brethren; why hurt you one another?

²⁷ But he that did the injury to his neighbour thrust him away, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge over us?

²⁸ What, wilt thou kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian?

²⁹ And Moses fled upon this word, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begot two sons.

³⁰ And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the desert of mount Sina, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ And Moses seeing it, wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to view it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

³² I am the God of thy fathers; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses being terrified, durst not behold.

³³ And the Lord said to him: Loose the shoes from thy feet, for the place wherein thou standest, is holy ground.

³⁴ Seeing I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, and I will send thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses, whom they refused, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge? him God sent to be prince and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ He brought them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel: A prophet shall God raise up to you of your own brethren, as myself: him shall you hear.

³⁸ This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on mount Sina, and with our fathers; who received the words of life to give unto us.

³⁹ Whom our fathers would not obey; but thrust him away, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt,

⁴⁰ Saying to Aaron: Make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴² And God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the books of the prophets: Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me for forty years, in the desert, O house of Israel?

⁴³ And you took unto you the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rempham, figures which you made to adore them. And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the form which he had seen.

⁴⁵ Which also our fathers receiving, brought in with Jesus, into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David.

⁴⁶ Who found grace before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ Yet the most High dwelleth not in houses made by hands, as the prophet saith:

⁶ But God spoke in this way: that his offspring would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would enslave them, and they would treat them badly four hundred years.

⁷ ‘And the nation which they will serve, I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out and serve Me in this place.’

⁸ Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “And the patriarchs, being jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; and God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him ruler over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no provisions.

¹² And Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

¹³ And on the second visit Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Then Joseph sent and summoned his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people.

¹⁵ So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers.

¹⁶ And they were brought back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb which Abraham bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

¹⁷ “Now when the time of the promise drew near which God swore to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose a different king, who did not know Joseph.

¹⁹ This king took advantage of our race, and oppressed our fathers, to make their babies exposed, in order that they might not preserve their lives.

²⁰ At this time Moses was born, and he was well pleasing to God; who was brought up in his father's house for three months.

²¹ But when he was exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and brought him up for herself as a son.

²² And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and deeds.

²³ “Now when he had turned forty years old, it came into his heart to look upon his brothers, the sons of Israel.

²⁴ And seeing someone being wronged, he retaliated, and avenged him who was being oppressed, and struck the Egyptian.

²⁵ For he supposed that his brothers understood that God was giving to them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand.

²⁶ And on the next day he appeared to them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them to peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But the one wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you desire to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Now Moses, at this saying, fled and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.

³⁰ “And forty years having been fulfilled, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.

³¹ And Moses, seeing it, marveled at the sight; and as he approached it to observe closely, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses was trembling and was not bold enough to look closely.

³³ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have certainly seen the mistreatment of My people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they denied, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’ This man God sent as a ruler and redeemer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ He led them out, and did wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷ “This is that Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers.’

³⁸ “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,

³⁹ whom our fathers did not desire to be obedient, but they rejected him and returned in their heart back to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us: as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them over to serve the host of heaven, just as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ Indeed you carried up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, the images which you made to worship them; and I will relocate you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, just as the One speaking to Moses commanded him, to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, having received in turn, also brought in with Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favor before God and asked opportunity to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built Him a house.

⁴⁸ “However, the Most High does not dwell in handmade sanctuaries, just as the prophet says:

⁶ Further, God spoke like this: that his offspring would be aliens in a foreign land—and that they would be enslaved and oppressed—four hundred years.

⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’

⁸ And He gave him a covenant of circumcision; and so he begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac did the same to Jacob, and Jacob to the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs, being envious, sold Joseph into Egypt; yet God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his adversities, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ And a famine came upon all the land of Egypt and Canaan, even a great affliction, and our fathers could not find food.

¹² But upon hearing that there was wheat in Egypt, Jacob first sent our fathers.

¹³ On the second trip Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family was presented to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were transferred to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷ “Now as the time of the promise was approaching which God had sworn to Abraham, the people increased and were multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until a different king arose who had not known Joseph.

¹⁹ This man took advantage of our race and oppressed our fathers, making them expose their babies so that they would not stay alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; he was nurtured in his father's house for three months.

²¹ When he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter took him to herself and brought him up as her own son.

²² So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; he was mighty in words and deeds.

²³ Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.

²⁴ Well seeing one of them being wronged, he defended and avenged the one being oppressed, striking down the Egyptian.

²⁵ Now he supposed that his brothers understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand.

²⁶ The next day he appeared to them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But the one who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses away, saying: ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Well Moses fled at that word, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons.

³⁰ “And when another forty years had passed, Angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ Well upon seeing it Moses was amazed at the sight, but as he approached for a closer look the voice of the Lord came to him:

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ Moses started trembling and did not dare to look.

³³ So the Lord said to him: ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have definitely seen the mistreatment of my people in Egypt, and have heard their groaning; and I have come down to deliver them. So now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God sent him as leader and deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.

³⁷ “This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up to you a Prophet from among your brothers, like me.’

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, who was with the Angel who spoke with him on Mount Sinai and was with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us;

³⁹ to whom our fathers did not want to be obedient; rather they rejected him and turned back in their heart to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us; because this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ Well they made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and started rejoicing in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them over to serve the army of the heaven, just as it is written in Book of the Prophets: ‘House of Israel, did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness?

⁴³ Actually you took along the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god, Rephan, the images that you made to worship; so I will relocate you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “The tent of the testimony, according to the pattern that Moses had seen, just as the One speaking to him had commanded to make it, was with our fathers in the wilderness;

⁴⁵ which, having received it in turn, our fathers with Joshua brought into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, until the days of David;

⁴⁶ who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob,

⁴⁷ but Solomon built Him a house.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High does not dwell in handmade sanctuaries, just as the prophet says:

⁶ God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign country, and that they would be enslaved there, and would be mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷ God said, ‘I will punish the nation that enslaves them. Eventually they will leave and come here to worship me.’

⁸ God also gave Abraham the agreement regarding circumcision, and so when Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ The patriarchs, who were jealous of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him,

¹⁰ and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave him wisdom and helped him gain the favor of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and the royal household.

¹¹ Now a famine occurred throughout Egypt and Canaan. It caused terrible misery, and our forefathers had no food.

¹² When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt he sent our forefathers down on their first visit.

¹³ During their second visit, Joseph revealed to his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh discovered Joseph's family background.

¹⁴ Joseph sent for his father and all his relatives—seventy-five in total.

¹⁵ Jacob traveled to Egypt, and died there—as did our forefathers.

¹⁶ Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought with silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ As the time approached regarding the promise that God had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased.

¹⁸ A new king came to the throne in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.

¹⁹ He took advantage of our people and treated our ancestors badly, forcing them to abandon their babies so they would die.

²⁰ It was at this time that Moses was born. He was a handsome child, and for three months he was looked after in his father's home.

²¹ When he had to be abandoned, Pharaoh's daughter rescued him and took care of him as her own son.

²² Moses received instruction in all areas of Egyptian knowledge, and he became a powerful speaker and leader.

²³ However, when he was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the Israelites.

²⁴ He saw one of them being mistreated, so he intervened to defend him. On behalf of the man he took revenge and killed the Egyptian.

²⁵ Moses thought his fellow Israelites would see that God was rescuing them through him, but they didn't.

²⁶ The next day when he arrived, two Israelites were fighting one another. He tried to reconcile them and stop the fight. ‘Men! You are brothers!’ he told them. ‘Why are you attacking each other?’

²⁷ But the man who had started the fight pushed Moses away. ‘Who put you in charge over us? Are you our judge now?’ he asked.

²⁸ ‘Are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ When he heard this, Moses ran away. He went and lived in exile in the land of Midian, where two sons were born to him.

³⁰ Forty years later, in the desert of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush.

³¹ When Moses saw this, he was amazed at the sight, and went over to take a closer look. The voice of the Lord spoke to him:

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and didn't dare look up.

³³ The Lord told him, ‘Take off your sandals, because where you are standing is holy ground.

³⁴ I have closely observed the suffering of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groans. I have come down to rescue them. Now come over here, for I'm sending you to Egypt.’

³⁵ This was the same Moses that the people had rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ God sent him to be both a ruler and a liberator, by means of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ Moses led them out after performing miraculous signs in Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and continued to do so in the desert for forty years.

³⁷ This is the same Moses who promised the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from among your people.’

³⁸ Moses was with God's assembled people in the desert when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and there with our forefathers he received God's living word to give to us.

³⁹ He was the one our fathers wouldn't listen to. They rejected him and decided to return to Egypt.

⁴⁰ They told Aaron, ‘Make gods for us to lead us, because we don't know what's happened to this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt.’

⁴¹ Then they made an idol in the shape of a calf, sacrificed to it, and celebrated what they themselves had made!

⁴² So God gave up on them. He left them to their worship of the stars in the sky. This is what the prophets wrote, ‘Were you giving offerings or making sacrifices to me during the forty years in the desert, you Israelites?

⁴³ No, you carried the Tabernacle of the god Moloch and the image of the god Rephan's star, images that you made so you could worship them. So I will banish you in exile beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ Our ancestors had the Tabernacle of Testimony in the desert. God had told Moses how he should make it following the blueprint he had seen.

⁴⁵ Later on, our forefathers carried it with them when they went in with Joshua to occupy the land taken from the nations the Lord drove out before them. It stayed there until the time of David.

⁴⁶ David found favor with God and asked to make a more permanent home for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a Temple for him.

⁴⁸ Of course the Almighty doesn't live in temples we make. As the prophet said,

⁶ But God spake thus, that his seede should be a soiourner in a strange land: and that they should keepe it in bondage, and entreate it euill foure hundreth yeeres.

⁷ But the nation to whome they shall be in bondage, will I iudge, sayth God: and after that, they shall come forth and serue me in this place.

⁸ Hee gaue him also the couenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begate Isaac, and circumcised him the eight day: and Isaac begate Iacob, and Iacob the twelue Patriarkes.

⁹ And the Patriarkes moued with enuie, solde Ioseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

¹⁰ And deliuered him out of all his afflictions, and gaue him fauour and wisdome in the sight of Pharao King of Egypt, who made him gouernour ouer Egypt, and ouer his whole house.

¹¹ Then came there a famine ouer all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction, that our fathers found no sustenance.

¹² But when Iacob heard that there was corne in Egypt, he sent our fathers first:

¹³ And at the second time, Ioseph was knowen of his brethren, and Iosephs kindred was made knowen vnto Pharao.

¹⁴ Then sent Ioseph and caused his father to be brought, and all his kindred, euen threescore and fifteene soules.

¹⁵ So Iacob went downe into Egypt, and he dyed, and our fathers,

¹⁶ And were remoued into Sychem, and were put in the sepulchre, that Abraham had bought for money of the sonnes of Emor, sonne of Sychem.

¹⁷ But when the time of the promise drewe neere, which God had sworne to Abraham, the people grewe and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ Till another King arose, which knewe not Ioseph.

¹⁹ The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and euill entreated our fathers, and made them to cast out their yong children, that they should not remaine aliue.

²⁰ The same time was Moses borne, and was acceptable vnto God, which was nourished vp in his fathers house three moneths.

²¹ And when he was cast out, Pharaohs daughter tooke him vp, and nourished him for her owne sonne.

²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdome of the Egyptians, and was mightie in wordes and in deedes.

²³ Nowe when he was full fourtie yeere olde, it came into his heart to visite his brethren, the children of Israel.

²⁴ And whe he saw one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and auenged his quarell that had the harme done to him, and smote the Egyptian.

²⁵ For hee supposed his brethren would haue vnderstand, that God by his hande should giue them deliuerance: but they vnderstoode it not.

²⁶ And the next day, he shewed himselfe vnto them as they stroue, and woulde haue set them at one againe, saying, Syrs, ye are brethren: why doe ye wrong one to another?

²⁷ But he that did his neighbour wrong, thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a prince, and a iudge ouer vs?

²⁸ Wilt thou kill mee, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹ Then fled Moses at that saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begate two sonnes.

³⁰ And when fourtie yeres were expired, there appeared to him in the wildernes of mout Sina, an Angel of the Lord in a flame of fire, in a bush.

³¹ And when Moses sawe it, hee wondred at the sight: and as he drew neere to consider it, the voyce of the Lord came vnto him, saying,

³² I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Iacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold it.

³³ Then the Lord said to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feete: for the place where thou standest, is holy ground.

³⁴ I haue seene, I haue seene the affliction of my people, which is in Egypt, and I haue heard their groning, and am come downe to deliuer them: and nowe come, and I will sende thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses whome they forsooke, saying, Who made thee a prince and a iudge? the same God sent for a prince, and a deliuerer by the hand of the Angel, which appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ Hee brought them out, doing wonders, and miracles in the land of Egypt, and in the red sea, and in the wildernes fourtie yeeres.

³⁷ This is that Moses, which saide vnto the children of Israel, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise vp vnto you, euen of your brethren, like vnto me: him shall ye heare.

³⁸ This is he that was in the Congregation, in the wildernes with the Angell, which spake to him in mount Sina, and with our fathers, who receiued the liuely oracles to giue vnto vs.

³⁹ To whom our fathers would not obey, but refused, and in their hearts turned backe againe into Egypt:

⁴⁰ Saying vnto Aaron, Make vs gods that may goe before vs: for we knowe not what is become of this Moses that brought vs out of the land of Egypt.

⁴¹ And they made a calfe in those dayes, and offered sacrifice vnto the idole, and reioyced in the workes of their owne handes.

⁴² Then God turned himselfe away, and gaue them vp to serue the host of heauen, as it is written in the booke of the Prophets, O house of Israel, haue ye offred to me slaine beasts and sacrifices by the space of fourtie yeres in the wildernes?

⁴³ And ye tooke vp the tabernacle of Moloch, and the starre of your god Remphan, figures, which ye made to worship them: therefore I will carie you away beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tabernacle of witnes, in the wildernes, as hee had appointed, speaking vnto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seene.

⁴⁵ Which tabernacle also our fathers receiued, and brought in with Iesus into the possession of the Gentiles, which God draue out before our fathers, vnto the dayes of Dauid:

⁴⁶ Who found fauour before God, and desired that hee might finde a tabernacle for the God of Iacob.

⁴⁷ But Salomon built him an house.

⁴⁸ Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with handes, as saith the Prophet,

⁶ And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

⁷ And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

¹³ And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

¹⁵ So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

¹⁶ and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

¹⁷ But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

²⁰ In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months:

²¹ and when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

²³ And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

²⁵ for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

²⁶ And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

²⁷ But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹ Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

³² saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

³³ Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴ I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

³⁸ This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

³⁹ to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴² Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

⁴³ Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tabernacle of Witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

⁴⁵ Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

⁴⁶ who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

⁶ And God spoke in this manner: “That his posterity should sojourn in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage, and ill-treat them four hundred years;

⁷ and the nation to which they shall be in bondage will I judge,” said God; “and after that they shall come forth, and shall worship me in this place.”

⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so he begat Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt, and all his house.

¹¹ Now there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great distress; and our fathers found no Sustenance.

¹² But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent out our fathers first.

¹³ And at the second time Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and the kindred of Joseph became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, seventy five souls.

¹⁵ And Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he and our fathers.

¹⁶ And they were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

¹⁷ But as the time of the promise drew near, which God solemnly made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until another king arose, who knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ The same dealt subtly with our race, and ill-treated our fathers, so that they should cast out their infants, that they might not be preserved alive.

²⁰ In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair; who was nourished in his father's house three months.

²¹ And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for herself as a son.

²² And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in his worlds and deeds.

²³ And when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed by smiting the Egyptian.

²⁵ For he supposed his brethren would understand that God through his hand would give them salvation; but they understood not.

²⁶ And the next day he showed himself to them as they were contending, and urged them to peace, saying, Ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one another?

²⁷ But he who was wronging his neighbor thrust him away, saying, “Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Dost thou mean to kill me, as thou didst kill the Egyptian yesterday?”

²⁹ And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when forty years were completed, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel in the flaming fire of a bush.

³¹ And Moses seeing it wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² saying, “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.” And Moses trembled and durst not behold.

³³ And the Lord said to him, “Loose the sandals from thy feet; for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them; and now, come, I will send thee into Egypt.”

³⁵ This Moses, whom they denied, saying, “Who made thee a ruler and a judge?” this very man did God send both as a ruler and a redeemer with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This very man brought them out, working wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, “A prophet will God raise up to you from among your brethren, as he raised up me.”

³⁸ This is he that was in the assembly in the wilderness with the anger who spake to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received the living oracles to give to us;

³⁹ to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, “Make us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.”

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴² But God turned away, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the Prophets, “Did ye offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan, the figures which ye made to worship them; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.”

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, as he that spoke to Moses commanded that he should make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers received and brought in with Joshua, at their taking possession of the gentiles whom God drove out from before our fathers, until the days of David;

⁴⁶ who found favor before God, and asked that he might find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ Yet the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

⁶ God's words were these — ‘Abraham's descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred years.

⁷ But I myself will judge the nation, to which they will be enslaved,’ God said, ‘and after that they will leave the country and worship me in this place.’

⁸ Then God made with Abraham the covenant of circumcision; and under it Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him when he was eight days old; and Isaac became the father of Jacob; and Jacob of the Twelve Patriarchs.

⁹ The Patriarchs, out of jealousy, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his troubles, and enabled him to win favour and show wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him Governor of Egypt and of his whole household.

¹¹ Then a famine spread over the whole of Egypt and Canaan, causing great distress, and our ancestors could find no food.

¹² Hearing, however, that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob sent our ancestors there on their first visit.

¹³ In the course of their second visit, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Then Joseph sent an urgent invitation to his father Jacob and to his relatives, seventy-five persons in all;

¹⁵ and so Jacob went down into Egypt. There he died, and our ancestors also,

¹⁶ and their bodies were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ As the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people increased largely in numbers in Egypt,

¹⁸ until a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to the throne.

¹⁹ This king acted deceitfully towards our people and ill-treated our ancestors, making them abandon their own infants, so that they should not be reared.

²⁰ It was just at this time that Moses was born. He was an exceedingly beautiful child, and for three months was brought up in his own father's house;

²¹ and, when he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh found him and brought him up as her own son.

²² So Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and proved his ability both by his words and actions.

²³ When he was in his fortieth year, he resolved to visit his fellow Israelites;

²⁴ and, seeing an Israelite ill-treated, he defended him, and avenged the man, who was being wronged, by striking down the Egyptian.

²⁵ He thought his own people would understand that God was using him to save them; but they failed to do so.

²⁶ The next day he again appeared on the scene, when some of them were fighting, and tried to make peace between them. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers; how is it that you are ill-treating one another?’

²⁷ But the man who was ill-treating his fellow workman pushed Moses aside saying — ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?

²⁸ Do you mean to make away with me as you did yesterday with that Egyptian?’

²⁹ At these words Moses took to flight, and became an exile in Midian; and there he had two sons born to him.

³⁰ Forty years had passed when there appeared to him, in the desert of Mount Sinai, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the vision; but on his going nearer to look at it more closely, the voice of the Lord was heard to say —

³² ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and did not dare to look.

³³ Then the Lord said to him — ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the spot where you are standing is holy ground.

³⁴ I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them. Come now and I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ This same Moses, whom they had disowned with the words — ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ was the man whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer, under the guidance of the angel that had appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ He it was who led them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the desert during forty years.

³⁷ This was the Moses who said to the people of Israel — ‘God will raise up for you, from amongst yourselves, a prophet, as he raised up me.’

³⁸ He, too, it was who was present at the assembly in the desert, with the angel who talked to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and who received living truths to impart to you.

³⁹ Yet our ancestors refused him obedience; more than that, they rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

⁴⁰ while they said to Aaron — ‘Make us Gods who will lead the way for us, since, as for this Moses who has brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ That was the time when they made the calf and offered sacrifice to their idol, and held festivities in honour of their own handiwork!

⁴² So God turned from them and left them to the worship of the Starry Host, as is written in the book of the prophets — ‘Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me, house of Israel, all those forty years in the desert?

⁴³ You took with you the tent where Moloch is worshipped and the star of the god Rephan — the images which you had made to worship. Therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ Our ancestors had the tent where they worshipped God in the desert, constructed, just as he who spoke to Moses had directed him to make it, after the model which he had seen.

⁴⁵ This tent, which was handed down to them, was brought into this country by our ancestors who accompanied Joshua (at the conquest of the nations that God drove out before their advance), and remained here until the time of David.

⁴⁶ David found favour with God, and prayed that he might provide the God of Jacob with a place to reside.

⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a house for God.

⁴⁸ Yet it is not in buildings made by hands that the Most High dwells. As the prophet says —

⁶ God's words were these — ‘Abraham's descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred years.

⁷ But I myself will judge the nation, to which they will be enslaved,’ God said, ‘and after that they will leave the country and worship me in this place.’

⁸ Then God made with Abraham the covenant of circumcision; and under it Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him when he was eight days old; and Isaac became the father of Jacob; and Jacob of the Twelve Patriarchs.

⁹ The Patriarchs, out of jealousy, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his troubles, and enabled him to win favor and show wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him Governor of Egypt and of his whole household.

¹¹ Then a famine spread over the whole of Egypt and Canaan, causing great distress, and our ancestors could find no food.

¹² Hearing, however, that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob sent our ancestors there on their first visit.

¹³ In the course of their second visit, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Then Joseph sent an urgent invitation to his father Jacob and to his relatives, seventy-five persons in all;

¹⁵ and so Jacob went down into Egypt. There he died, and our ancestors also,

¹⁶ and their bodies were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people increased largely in numbers in Egypt,

¹⁸ until a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to the throne.

¹⁹ This king acted deceitfully towards our people and ill-treated our ancestors, making them abandon their own infants, so that they should not be reared.

²⁰ It was just at this time that Moses was born. He was an exceedingly beautiful child, and for three months was brought up in his own father's house;

²¹ and, when he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh found him and brought him up as her own son.

²² So Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and proved his ability both by his words and actions.

²³ When he was in his fortieth year, he resolved to visit his fellow Israelites;

²⁴ and, seeing an Israelite ill-treated, he defended him, and avenged the man, who was being wronged, by striking down the Egyptian.

²⁵ He thought his own people would understand that God was using him to save them; but they failed to do so.

²⁶ The next day he again appeared on the scene, when some of them were fighting, and tried to make peace between them. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers; how is it that you are ill-treating one another?’

²⁷ But the man who was ill-treating his fellow workman pushed Moses aside saying — ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?

²⁸ Do you mean to make away with me as you did yesterday with that Egyptian?’

²⁹ At these words Moses took to flight, and became an exile in Midian; and there he had two sons born to him.

³⁰ Forty years had passed when there appeared to him, in the desert of Mount Sinai, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the vision; but on his going nearer to look at it more closely, the voice of the Lord was heard to say —

³² ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and did not dare to look.

³³ Then the Lord said to him — ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the spot where you are standing is holy ground.

³⁴ I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them. Come now and I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ This same Moses, whom they had disowned with the words — ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ was the man whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer, under the guidance of the angel that had appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ He it was who led them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the desert during forty years.

³⁷ This was the Moses who said to the people of Israel — ‘God will raise up for you, from among yourselves, a prophet, as he raised up me.’

³⁸ He, too, it was who was present at the assembly in the desert, with the angel who talked to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and who received living truths to impart to you.

³⁹ Yet our ancestors refused him obedience; more than that, they rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

⁴⁰ while they said to Aaron — ‘Make us Gods who will lead the way for us, since, as for this Moses who has brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ That was the time when they made the calf and offered sacrifice to their idol, and held festivities in honor of their own handiwork!

⁴² So God turned from them and left them to the worship of the Starry Host, as is written in the book of the prophets — ‘Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me, house of Israel, all those forty years in the desert?

⁴³ You took with you the tent where Moloch is worshiped and the star of the god Rephan — the images which you had made to worship. Therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ Our ancestors had the tent where they worshiped God in the desert, constructed, just as he who spoke to Moses had directed him to make it, after the model which he had seen.

⁴⁵ This tent, which was handed down to them, was brought into this country by our ancestors who accompanied Joshua (at the conquest of the nations that God drove out before their advance), and remained here until the time of David.

⁴⁶ David found favor with God, and prayed that he might provide the God of Jacob with a place to reside.

⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a house for God.

⁴⁸ Yet it is not in buildings made by hands that the Most High dwells. As the prophet says —

⁶ But God told Abraham, ‘Your grand-kids will live in a country that belongs to other people. Those people will treat your grand-kids really bad and make them work hard for no pay. They will do that for 400 years.

⁷ But after that I will pay back those other people for treating your grand-kids bad. Then your grand-kids will come out from that country and they will show respect to me here in this place.’

⁸ Then God promised to look after Abraham, and Abraham agreed to follow him. God told Abraham, ‘Your mob will always have to do a young man’s operation on their boys, to show that they agree with God.’ After that Abraham had a son called Isaac, and 8 days later Abraham did a young man’s operation on him. After that Isaac grew up and had a son called Jacob, and he did that operation on him too. And Jacob did the same for his 12 sons, and those 12 men became our grand-fathers of a long time ago.

⁹ Joseph was one of them. His brothers were jealous of him and sold him to some people that took him to Egypt. He had to work there for no pay. But God was with Joseph there in Egypt.

¹⁰ Joseph got big trouble there, but God saved him from all that trouble. God helped Joseph to think properly about everything. The big boss of Egypt was called Pharaoh. God showed Pharaoh that Joseph was really good. He made Joseph the boss over all the people in Egypt, and he made him boss over Pharaoh’s own big house.

¹¹ After a long time there was a dry time for all those countries. There was no rain, so no food grew in Egypt or in Canaan, the country that our grand-fathers were living in. They had no food and they were very hungry.

¹² Then Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt. So he sent his sons to Egypt to get food. They were our grand-fathers of a long time ago. They met Joseph there but he looked so different that they didn’t know him. Then they took that food home.

¹³ After that, Jacob sent them to Egypt again to get more food, and this time Joseph told them, ‘I am your brother.’ And Pharaoh heard that Joseph had some brothers.

¹⁴ Then Joseph sent his brothers to get his father Jacob, and all his family, to go and live in Egypt. So all 75 of them went to Egypt.

¹⁵ That’s the way Jacob and his family went to Egypt, and after that they died there.

¹⁶ Later their grand-kids took their bodies back to the place called Shechem and buried them in a cave. A long time before that their grand-father Abraham bought that cave from Hamor’s family. He paid the full price for that cave.”

¹⁷ Stephen said to the Jewish council men, “Remember, a long time before that God told Abraham, ‘Your family will live in Egypt for a long time.’ And when it was almost time for God to bring them back from Egypt, they had lots of kids and grand-kids till they grew into a big mob of people.

¹⁸ Then, a new man became the big boss of Egypt, and he didn’t know anything about Joseph.

¹⁹ That big boss tricked our family and was very hard on them. He made our mob throw their baby boys into the river to kill them.

²⁰ Moses was born while that man was the big boss. Moses was a very good little baby, and his mother and father looked after him in their house for 3 months.

²¹ After that they had to leave Moses out at the river, but just then the big boss’s daughter came along and found him, and she took him home and called him her own son.

²² So Moses grew up in the big boss’s family, and the Egyptian teachers taught him a lot of things. Moses became an important man. He did everything powerfully and he talked powerfully too.

²³ Moses kept living in the big boss’s family until he was 40 years old, then one day he went to visit his own people, us Israel mob.

²⁴ While he was there he saw an Egyptian boss beating up an Israel man. So Moses killed that Egyptian boss.

²⁵ Moses reckoned, ‘Now my people will understand about me, and God will use me to save them.’ But they didn’t understand anything about Moses.

²⁶ The next day Moses saw 2 of his own people fighting and he tried to get them to stop fighting. He said, ‘You 2 men, you are both family. Why do you hit each other?’

²⁷ But the man that started the fight pushed Moses away. He said, ‘Nobody said you can be our boss or our judge.

²⁸ Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian man yesterday?’

²⁹ Moses heard that man’s words and he got really frightened. He thought, ‘Hey, everyone knows that I killed that man. Now I will get big trouble.’ So he ran away from Egypt and went to live in the country called Midian. He didn’t belong to that country, but he got married there and had 2 sons.

³⁰ Moses stayed in Midian country for 40 years. Then one day he was in the desert place near the big hill called Sinai, and God sent one of his angel messengers to him there. Moses saw a little tree that was burning with flames of fire.

³¹ It kept on burning all the time, and Moses was really surprised. He thought, ‘How come?’ He went closer to have a good look at it. Then he heard God talk to him from that fire. God said,

³² ‘I am the God of your grand-fathers, called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am their God.’ Moses was so frightened that he started shaking. He was too frightened to look at that little tree any more.

³³ Then God said to him, ‘Moses, take off your shoes. The ground you are standing on is my special ground.

³⁴ Listen, I saw the bosses of Egypt hitting my people. I heard my people crying and groaning, and now I’m going to save them. So now, Moses, you go back to Egypt. I’m sending you back there to save them.’”

³⁵ Stephen kept on talking to them. He said, “You see, God’s people didn’t listen to Moses before. They said, ‘Nobody said you can be our boss or our judge.’ But later God sent Moses back to save them, and to be their boss. And God sent his angel messenger to help Moses, the same angel that made that little tree keep burning with fire.

³⁶ So all our people followed Moses out of Egypt. He did powerful things in Egypt for them to see, and again when they came to the water called the Red Sea he did a powerful thing to let them cross it, and he did great things for them while they walked around in the desert for 40 years.

³⁷ That same man, Moses, said to the people of Israel, ‘God will get one of your own people, and send him to tell you his message. He will be like me.’

³⁸ All our grand-fathers followed Moses together through the desert. And God sent an angel messenger to Moses at the big hill called Sinai, to tell him the good message that has life, and then Moses told our grand-fathers that same message.

³⁹ But our grand-fathers wouldn’t listen to Moses. They didn’t want him to be their leader. They just wanted to go back to Egypt.

⁴⁰ So they told Aaron, ‘Make us statues of gods, and we will get them to lead us back to Egypt. We followed that Moses out from Egypt, but now he is not here. What happened to him? We don’t know.’

⁴¹ So then they made a statue that looked like a baby cow. They brought money and things to it, and they had a big party to show respect to the thing they made.

⁴² So God turned away from our grand-fathers. He left them, and they showed respect to the sun and the moon and the stars. Some time later a man that told God’s messages wrote about it in God’s book. He wrote this, ‘You people of Israel, you were in the desert for 40 years, and at that time, did you bring animals to kill and give to me? No, they were not for me.

⁴³ You only respected the god called Molech, and the star god called Rephan. You made statues of them and you carried things around with you to help you respect them. So listen, I will send you all away from your country, I will send you a really long way away, even past the city called Babylon.’”

⁴⁴ Stephen kept on talking to them. He said, “A long time ago our grand-fathers carried God’s special tent with them through the desert. That special tent showed that God was with them all the time. You see, God talked to Moses and showed him a picture of that tent and told him the way to make it.

⁴⁵ Some years later Moses died, and Joshua was their leader. He and our grand-fathers came into this country and they fought against the people that lived here. God made those people run away, and our grand-fathers got this country, and they brought that tent with them into this country, and they kept it here for a long time, until David was their boss.

⁴⁶ God was good to David. And David wanted to build a ceremony house for God. He is the God that all of us Israel people respect. So David asked God to let him build that house.

⁴⁷ But God stopped David and instead it was David’s son, called Solomon, that built God’s ceremony house.

⁴⁸ But, you know, our great God does not live in houses that people build. You see, God got one of his men to write about that in his book. He wrote,

⁶ God verely spake on this wyse that his seade shulde be a dweller in a straunge londe and that they shulde kepe them in bondage and entreate them evyll .iiii.C. yeares.

⁷ But the nacion to whom they shalbe in bondage will I iudge sayde God. And after that shall they come forthe and serve me in this place.

⁸ And he gave him the covenaunt of circumcision. And he begat Isaac and circumcised him the viii. daye and Isaac begat Iacob and Iacob the twelve patriarkes.

⁹ And the patriarkes havinge indignacion solde Ioseph into Egipte. And God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his adversities. And gave him faveour and wisdome in the sight of Pharao kynge of Egipte which made him governer over Egipte and over all his housholde.

¹¹ Then came ther a derth over all the londe of Egipt and Canaan and great affliccion that our fathers founde no sustenauce.

¹² But when Iacob hearde that ther was corne in Egipte he sent oure fathers fyrst

¹³ and at the seconde tyme Ioseph was knowen of his brethren and Iosephs kynred was made knowne vnto Pharao.

¹⁴ Then sent Ioseph and caused his father to be brought and all his kynne thre score and xv. soules.

¹⁵ And Iacob descended into Egipte and dyed bothe he and oure fathers

¹⁶ and were translated into Sichem and were put in the sepulcre that Abraham bought for money of the sonnes of Emor at Sichem.

¹⁷ When the tyme of the promes drue nye (which God had sworme to Abraham) the people grewe and multiplied in Egipte

¹⁸ till another kynge arose which knewe not of Ioseph.

¹⁹ The same dealte suttelly with oure kynred and evyll intreated oure fathers and made them to cast oute their younge chyldren that they shuld not remayne alyve.

²⁰ The same tyme was Moses borne and was a proper childe in the sight of God which was norisshed vp in his fathers housse thre monethes.

²¹ When he was cast out Pharoes doughter toke him vp and norisshed him vp for her awne sonne.

²² And Moses was learned in all maner wisdome of the Egipcians and was mighty in dedes and in wordes.

²³ And when he was full forty yeare olde it came into his hert to visit his brethren the chyldren of Israhel.

²⁴ And when he sawe one of them suffre wronge he defended him and avenged his quarrell that had the harme done to him and smote the Egypcian.

²⁵ For he supposed hys brethren wolde have vnderstonde how that God by his hondes shuld save them But they vnderstode not.

²⁶ And the next daye he shewed him selfe vnto them as they strove and wolde have set the at one agayne sayinge: Syrs ye are brethren why hurte ye one another?

²⁷ But he that dyd his neghbour wronge thrust him awaye sayinge: who made the a rular and a iudge amonge vs?

²⁸ What wilt thou kyll me as thou dyddest the Egyptian yester daye?

²⁹ Then fleed Moses at that sayenge and was a stranger in the londe of Madian where he begat two sonnes.

³⁰ And when .xl. yeares were expired ther appered to him in the wyldernes of mounte Syna an angell of the Lorde in a flamme of fyre in a busshe.

³¹ When Moses sawe it he wondred at the syght. And as he drue neare to beholde the voyce of the Lorde came vnto him:

³² I am the God of thy fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob. Moses trembled and durst not beholde.

³³ Then sayde the Lorde to him: Put of thy showes from thy fete for the place where thou stondest is holy grounde.

³⁴ I have perfectly sene the affliccion of my people which is in Egypte and I have hearde their gronynge and am come doune to delyver them. And now come and I will sende the into Egypte.

³⁵ This Moses whom they forsoke sayinge: who made the a ruelar and a iudge: the same God sent bothe a ruler and delyverer by the hondes of the angell which appered to him in the busshe.

³⁶ And the same brought them out shewynge wonders and signes in Egypte and in the reed see and in the wyldernes .xl. yeares.

³⁷ This is that Moses which sayde vnto the chyldre of Israel: A Prophet shall the Lorde youre God rayse vp vnto you of youre brethren lyke vnto me him shall ye heare.

³⁸ This is he that was in the congregacion in the wyldernes with the angell which spake to him in the moute Syna and with oure fathers. This man receaved the worde of lyfe to geve vnto vs

³⁹ to who oure fathers wolde not obeye but cast it from them and in their hertes turned backe agayne into Egypte

⁴⁰ sayinge vnto Aaron: Make vs goddes to goo before vs. For this Moses that brought vs out of the londe of Egypte we wote not what is become of him.

⁴¹ And they made a calfe in those dayes and offered sacrifice vnto the ymage and reioysed in the workes of their awne hondes.

⁴² Then God turned him selfe and gave them vp that they shuld worship the starres of the skye as it is written in the boke of the prophetes. O ye of the housse of Israel gave ye to me sacrefices and meate offerynges by the space of xl. yeares in the wildernes?

⁴³ And ye toke vnto you the tabernacle of Moloch and the starre of youre god Remphan figures which ye made to worshippe them. And I will translate you beyonde Babylon.

⁴⁴ Oure fathers had the tabernacle of witnes in the wyldernes as he had apoynted the speakynge vnto Moses that he shuld make it acordynge to the fassion that he had sene.

⁴⁵ Which tabernacle oure fathers receaved and brought it in with Iosue into the possession of the gentyls which God drave out before the face of oure fathers vnto the tyme of David

⁴⁶ which founde favour before God and desyred that he myght fynde a tabernacle for the God of Iacob.

⁴⁷ But Salomon bylt him an housse.

⁴⁸ How be it he that is hyest of all dwelleth not in temple made with hondes as saith the Prophete:

⁶ God was speaking to him like this, that his descendants would live for a while in a foreign land, and that the inhabitants there would bring them into slavery and treat them badly for four hundred years.

⁷ 'But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, 'and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.'

⁸ Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him into Egypt; but God was with him

¹⁰ and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who had made him governor over Egypt and over all his household.

¹¹ Now there came a famine over all Egypt and Canaan, and great suffering, and our fathers could find no food.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first trip.

¹³ On their second trip Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent his brothers back to tell Jacob his father to come to Egypt, along with all his relatives, seventy-five persons in all.

¹⁵ So Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers.

¹⁶ They were carried over to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ As the time of the promise approached, the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose another king over Egypt, a king who did not know about Joseph.

¹⁹ He deceived our people and forced our fathers to expose their newborn infants so they would not be kept alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born; he was very beautiful before God and was nourished for three months in his father's house.

²¹ When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son.

²² Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was about forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ Seeing an Israelite being mistreated, Moses defended him and avenged him who was oppressed by striking the Egyptian:

²⁵ he thought that his brothers would understand that God by his hand was rescuing them, but they did not understand.

²⁶ On the next day he came to some Israelites as they were quarreling; he tried to put them at peace with each other; he said, 'Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?'

²⁷ But the one who had wronged his neighbor pushed him away, and said, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Would you like to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

²⁹ Moses ran away after hearing this; he became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ When forty years were past, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw the fire, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look at it, there came a voice of the Lord, saying,

³² 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.' Moses trembled and did not dare to look.

³³ The Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

³⁴ I have certainly seen the suffering of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; now come, I will send you to Egypt.'

³⁵ This Moses whom they rejected, when they said, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'—he was the one whom God sent as both a ruler and deliverer. God sent him by the hand of the angel who appeared to Moses in the bush.

³⁶ Moses led them out of Egypt, after doing miracles and signs in Egypt and at the Sea of Reeds, and in the wilderness during forty years.

³⁷ It is the same Moses who said to the people of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, a prophet like me.'

³⁸ This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. This is the man who was with our fathers; this is the man who received living words to give to us.

³⁹ This is the man whom our fathers refused to obey; they pushed him away from themselves, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt.

⁴⁰ At that time they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods who will lead us. As for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'

⁴¹ So they made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced because of the work of their hands.

⁴² But God turned and gave them up to worship the stars in the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?

⁴³ You accepted the tabernacle of Molech and the star of the god Rephan, and the images that you made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as God commanded when he spoke to Moses, that he should make it like the pattern that he had seen.

⁴⁵ Later, our fathers, under Joshua, received the tabernacle and brought it with them when they took possession of the land. God took the land from the nations and drove them out before the face of our fathers. The tabernacle remained in the land until the time of David,

⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God, and he asked if he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built the house for God.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High does not live in houses made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’

⁸ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³ On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph.

¹⁹ The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

²¹ When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.

²² Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵ He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

²⁶ “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

³⁹ to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’

⁸ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³ On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph.

¹⁹ The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

²¹ When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.

²² Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵ He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

²⁶ “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But he who did his neighbour wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from amongst your brothers, like me.’

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

³⁹ to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favour in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ And God spoke on this wise, That his offspring should sojourn in a foreign land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and treat them ill four hundred years.

⁷ And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that they shall come forth, and serve me in this place.

⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

¹⁰ And delivered him from all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt, and all his house.

¹¹ Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers found no sustenance.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

¹³ And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren: and Joseph's kindred was made known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Then Joseph sent, and called his father Jacob to him , and all his kindred, seventy five souls.

¹⁵ So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

¹⁶ And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

¹⁷ But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ Till another king arose, who knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and ill-treated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

²⁰ In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished in his father's house three months:

²¹ And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

²³ And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him , and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

²⁵ For he supposed his brethren to understand that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

²⁶ And the next day he showed himself to them as they were contending, and would have constrained them to be at peace again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren: why do ye wrong one to another?

²⁷ But he that did his neighbor wrong, thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹ Then Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when forty years had expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina, an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it , he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold it , the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² Saying , I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

³³ Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴ I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ He brought them out, after he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, A prophet will the Lord your God raise up to you of your brethren, like me; him will ye hear.

³⁸ This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the living oracles to give to us:

³⁹ Whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

⁴⁰ Saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴² Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness?

⁴³ Yes, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your God Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

⁴⁵ Which also our fathers, that came after, brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David;

⁴⁶ Who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ Yet, the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet,

⁶ God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’

⁸ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³ On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph.

¹⁹ The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

²¹ When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.

²² Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵ He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

²⁶ “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Sea of Suf, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

³⁹ to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷ ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’

⁸ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him

¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³ On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵ Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph.

¹⁹ The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

²⁰ At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

²¹ When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.

²² Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴ Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵ He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

²⁶ “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷ But he who did his neighbour wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Sea of Suf, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from amongst your brothers, like me.’

³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

³⁹ to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴² But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favour in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁶ And God spake to him, That his seed shall be a comeling or a guest in an alien land, and they shall make them subject to servage, and shall evil treat them, four hundred years and thirty or four hundred years;

⁷ and I shall judge the folk to whom they shall serve, saith the Lord. And after these things they shall go out, and they shall serve to me in this place.

⁸ And he gave to him the testament of circumcision; and so he engender-ed Isaac, and circumcised him in the eighth day. And Isaac engendered Jacob, and Jacob engendered the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ And the patriarchs had envy to Joseph, and sold him into Egypt. And God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him of all his tribulations, and gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he ordained him sove-reign on Egypt, and on all his house.

¹¹ And hunger came into all Egypt, and Canaan, and great tribulation; and our fathers found not meat.

¹² But when Jacob had heard, that wheat was in Egypt, he sent our fathers first.

¹³ And in the second time Joseph was known of his brethren, and his kin was made known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ And Joseph sent, and called Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy and five men or souls.

¹⁵ And Jacob came down into Egypt, and was dead, he and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were translated into Sychem, and were laid in the sepulchre, that Abraham bought by price of silver of the sons of Emmor, the son of Sychem.

¹⁷ And when the time of promise came nigh, which God had acknowl-edged to Abraham, the people waxed, and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ till another king rose in Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ This beguiled our kin, and torment-ed our fathers, that they should put away or should put out their young children, for they should not live.

²⁰ In the same time Moses was born, and he was loved or accepted of God; and he was nourished three months in the house of his father.

²¹ And when he was put out in the flood, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and nourished him into her son.

²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when the time of forty years was full-filled to him, it rose up into his heart, that he should visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

²⁴ And when he saw a man suffering wrong, he avenged him, and did vengeance for him that suffered the wrong, and killed the Egyptian.

²⁵ For he guessed that his brethren should understand, that God should give to them health by the hand of him; but they understood not.

²⁶ For in the day pursuing he appeared to them chiding, and he accorded or reconciled them in peace, and said, Men, ye be brethren; why annoy ye each other?

²⁷ But he that did the wrong to his neighbour, putted him away, and said, Who ordained thee prince and dooms-man on us?

²⁸ Whether thou wilt slay me, as yesterday thou killedest the Egyptian?

²⁹ And in this word Moses flew, and was made a comeling in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when he had ful filled forty years, an angel appeared to him in fire of flame of a bush, in desert of the mount of Sinai.

³¹ And Moses saw, and wondered on the sight. And when he nighed to behold, the voice of the Lord was made to him,

³² and said, I am God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. Moses was made trembling, and durst not behold.

³³ But God said to him, Do off the shoes of thy feet, for the place in which thou standest is holy earth.

³⁴ I seeing saw the tormenting or the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and I heard the mourning of them, and came down to deliver them. And now come thou, and I shall send thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses whom they denied, saying, Who ordained thee prince and doomsman on us? God sent this prince and again-buyer, with the hand of the angel, that appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶ This Moses led them out, and did wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in desert forty years.

³⁷ This is Moses, that said to the sons of Israel, God shall raise to you a prophet of your brethren, and as me ye shall hear him.

³⁸ This it is, that was in the church in wilderness, with the angel that spake to him in the mount of Sinai, and with our fathers; which took words of life to give to us.

³⁹ To whom our fathers would not obey, but putted him away, and were turned away in their hearts into Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, Make thou to us gods, that shall go before us; for to this Moses that led us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is done to him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the maumet or the simulacrum; and they were glad in the works of their hands.

⁴² And God turned, and betook them to serve to the knighthood of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, Whether ye, house of Israel, offered to me slain sacrifices, either sacrifices, forty years in desert?

⁴³ And ye have taken the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, figures that ye have made to worship them; and I shall translate you into Babylon.

⁴⁴ The tabernacle of witnessing was with our fathers in desert, as God disposed to them, and spake to Moses, that he should make it after the form that he saw.

⁴⁵ Which also our fathers took with Jesus, that was Joshua, and brought into the possession of heathen men, which God putted away from the face of our fathers, till into the days of David,

⁴⁶ that found grace with God, and asked that he should find a tabernacle to God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ But Solomon builded the house to him.

⁴⁸ But the high God dwelleth not in things made by hand, as he saith by the prophet,

⁶ And God spake to him, That his seed shall be a comeling or a guest in an alien land, and they shall make them subject to servage, and shall evil treat them, (for) four hundred years and thirty or (for) four hundred years; (And God said to him, That his descendants shall be newcomers in a foreign or a strange land, and they shall make them subject to servitude, or to slavery, and shall treat them wickedly, for four hundred years;)

⁷ and I shall judge the folk to whom they shall serve, (or and I shall judge the nation for whom they shall be slaves), saith the Lord. And after these things they shall go out, and they shall serve to me in this place.

⁸ And he gave to him the testament of circumcision; and so he engendered Isaac, and circumcised him in the eighth day. And Isaac engendered Jacob, and Jacob engendered the twelve patriarchs. (And he gave to him the covenant of circumcision; and so he begat Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.)

⁹ And the patriarchs had envy to Joseph, and sold him into Egypt. And God was with him,

¹⁰ and delivered him (out) of all his tribulations, and gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he ordained him sovereign on Egypt, and on all his house.

¹¹ And hunger came into all Egypt, and Canaan, and great tribulation; and our fathers found not meat (or and our fathers could not find any food).

¹² But when Jacob had heard, that wheat was in Egypt, he sent our fathers (on their) first (visit).

¹³ And in the second time Joseph was known of his brethren (or And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers), and his kin was made known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴ And Joseph sent, and called (for) Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy and five men or souls.

¹⁵ And Jacob came down into Egypt, and was dead, he and our fathers;

¹⁶ and they were translated into Sychem, and were laid in the sepulchre, that Abraham bought by price of silver of the sons of Emmor, the son of Sychem. (and they were taken to Shechem, and were laid in the tomb, that Abraham bought with silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.)

¹⁷ And when the time of (the) promise came nigh, which God had acknowledged to Abraham, the people waxed (or grew), and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ till another king (a)rose in Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

¹⁹ This (man) beguiled our kin, and tormented our fathers, that they should put away or they should put out their young children, for they should not live.

²⁰ In the same time Moses was born, and he was loved of God or he was accepted of God, (or At that time Moses was born, and he was loved by God); and he was nourished (or was nursed) three months in the house of his father.

²¹ And when he was put out in the river, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and nourished him into her son (or and raised him as her own son).

²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of (the) Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and works.

²³ But when the time of forty years was full-filled to him, it rose up into his heart, that he should visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

²⁴ And when he saw a man suffering wrong, he (a)venged him, and did vengeance for him that suffered the wrong, and killed the Egyptian.

²⁵ For he guessed that his brethren should understand, that God should give to them health (or deliverance) by the hand of him; but they understood not.

²⁶ For in the day (pur)suing he appeared to them (who were) chiding (or For on the following day he appeared to two men who were fighting), and he accorded them or he reconciled them in peace, and said, Men, ye be brethren; why annoy (or harm) ye each other?

²⁷ But he that did the wrong to his neighbour, putted him away, and said, Who ordained thee prince and doomsman on us? (But he who did the wrong to his neighbour, pushed him away, and said, Who made thee lord and judge over us?)

²⁸ Whether thou wilt slay me, as yesterday thou killedest the Egyptian?

²⁹ And in this word Moses flew, and was made a comeling in the land of Madian (or and was made a newcomer in the land of Midian), where he begat two sons.

³⁰ And when he had ful filled forty years, an angel appeared to him in (the) fire of (the) flame of a bush, in desert of the mount of Sina (or in the desert of Mount Sinai).

³¹ And Moses saw, and wondered on the sight. And when he nighed to behold, the voice of the Lord was made to him, (And Moses saw, and wondered at the sight. And when he approached to look at it, the voice of the Lord was made to him,)

³² and said, I am (the) God of your fathers, (the) God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. Moses was made trembling, and durst (or dared) not behold.

³³ But God said to him, Do off the shoes of thy feet, for the place in which thou standest is holy earth (or for the place where thou standest is holy ground).

³⁴ I seeing saw the tormenting or the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and I heard the mourning of them, and came down to deliver them. And now come thou, and I shall send thee into Egypt.

³⁵ This Moses whom they denied, saying, Who ordained thee prince and doomsman on us? God sent this prince and again-buyer, with the hand of the angel, that appeared to him in the bush. (This Moses whom they denied, saying, Who ordained thee lord and judge over us? God sent this leader and this redeemer, by the hand of the angel, who appeared to him in the bush.)

³⁶ This Moses led them out, and did wonders and signs (or miracles) in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea (or and in the Sea of Reeds), and in (the) desert (for) forty years.

³⁷ This is Moses, that said to the sons of Israel, God shall raise to you a prophet of your brethren, and as me ye shall hear him.

³⁸ This it is, that was in the church in wilderness, with the angel that spake to him in the mount of Sina, and with our fathers; which took words of life to give to us. (This is he, who was with the congregation in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received the Words of Life to give to us.)

³⁹ To whom our fathers would not obey, but putted him away, and were turned away in their hearts into Egypt (or and their hearts were turned back to Egypt),

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, Make thou to us gods, that shall go before us; for to this Moses that led us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is done to him.

⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the maumet, or to the simulacrum, (or and offered a sacrifice to the idol); and they were glad in the works of their hands.

⁴² And God turned, and betook them to serve to the knighthood (or to the host) of heaven, (or And God turned away from them, and delivered them over to serve, or to worship, the stars of the heavens), as it is written in the book of the prophets, Whether ye, house of Israel, offered to me slain sacrifices, either sacrifices, (for) forty years in (the) desert?

⁴³ And ye have taken the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures that ye have made to worship them; and I shall translate you into Babylon (or and so I shall lead you to Babylon).

⁴⁴ The tabernacle of witnessing was with our fathers in desert, (or The Tabernacle, or the Tent, of the Testimony was with our fathers in the desert), as God assigned to them, and spake to Moses, that he should make it after the form that he saw.

⁴⁵ Which also our fathers took with Jesus, (or he) that was (called) Joshua, and brought into the possession of (the) heathen men, which God putted away from the face of our fathers, till into the days of David,

⁴⁶ that found grace with God, and asked that he should find a tabernacle to (the) God of Jacob. (who found grace with God, and asked if he could make a Tabernacle for the God of Jacob.)

⁴⁷ But Solomon builded the house to him. Solomon forsooth built an house to him. (But it was Solomon who built a House, or the Temple, for him.)

⁴⁸ But the high God dwelleth not in things made by hand, as he saith by the prophet,

⁶ 'And God spake thus, That his seed shall be sojourning in a strange land, and they shall cause it to serve, and shall do it evil four hundred years,

⁷ and the nation whom they shall serve I will judge, said God; and after these things they shall come forth and shall do Me service in this place.

⁸ 'And He gave to him a covenant of circumcision, and so he begat Isaac, and did circumcise him on the eighth day, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob — the twelve patriarchs;

⁹ and the patriarchs, having been moved with jealousy, sold Joseph to Egypt, and God was with him,

¹⁰ and did deliver him out of all his tribulations, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he did set him — governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹ 'And there came a dearth upon all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great tribulation, and our fathers were not finding sustenance,

¹² and Jacob having heard that there was corn in Egypt, sent forth our fathers a first time;

¹³ and at the second time was Joseph made known to his brethren, and Joseph's kindred became manifest to Pharaoh,

¹⁴ and Joseph having sent, did call for his father Jacob, and all his kindred — with seventy and five souls —

¹⁵ and Jacob went down to Egypt, and died, himself and our fathers,

¹⁶ and they were carried over into Sychem, and were laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in money from the sons of Emmor, of Sychem.

¹⁷ 'And according as the time of the promise was drawing nigh, which God did swear to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸ till another king rose, who had not known Joseph;

¹⁹ this one, having dealt subtilely with our kindred, did evil to our fathers, causing to expose their babes, that they might not live;

²⁰ in which time Moses was born, and he was fair to God, and he was brought up three months in the house of his father;

²¹ and he having been exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and did rear him to herself for a son;

²² and Moses was taught in all wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and in works.

²³ 'And when forty years were fulfilled to him, it came upon his heart to look after his brethren, the sons of Israel;

²⁴ and having seen a certain one suffering injustice, he did defend, and did justice to the oppressed, having smitten the Egyptian;

²⁵ and he was supposing his brethren to understand that God through his hand doth give salvation; and they did not understand.

²⁶ 'On the succeeding day, also, he shewed himself to them as they are striving, and urged them to peace, saying, Men, brethren are ye, wherefore do ye injustice to one another?

²⁷ and he who is doing injustice to the neighbour, did thrust him away, saying, Who set thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸ to kill me dost thou wish, as thou didst kill yesterday the Egyptian?

²⁹ 'And Moses fled at this word, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons,

³⁰ and forty years having been fulfilled, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai a messenger of the Lord, in a flame of fire of a bush,

³¹ and Moses having seen did wonder at the sight; and he drawing near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord unto him,

³² I am the God of thy fathers; the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 'And Moses having become terrified, durst not behold,

³³ and the Lord said to him, Loose the sandal of thy feet, for the place in which thou hast stood is holy ground;

³⁴ seeing I have seen the affliction of My people that is in Egypt, and their groaning I did hear, and came down to deliver them; and now come, I will send thee to Egypt.

³⁵ 'This Moses, whom they did refuse, saying, Who did set thee a ruler and a judge? this one God a ruler and a redeemer did send, in the hand of a messenger who appeared to him in the bush;

³⁶ this one did bring them forth, having done wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years;

³⁷ this is the Moses who did say to the sons of Israel: A prophet to you shall the Lord your God raise up out of your brethren, like to me, him shall ye hear.

³⁸ 'This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the messenger who is speaking to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers who did receive the living oracles to give to us;

³⁹ to whom our fathers did not wish to become obedient, but did thrust away, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, Make to us gods who shall go on before us, for this Moses, who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, we have not known what hath happened to him.

⁴¹ 'And they made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands,

⁴² and God did turn, and did give them up to do service to the host of the heaven, according as it hath been written in the scroll of the prophets: Slain beasts and sacrifices did ye offer to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ and ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan — the figures that ye made to bow before them, and I will remove your dwelling beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴ 'The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, according as He did direct, who is speaking to Moses, to make it according to the figure that he had seen;

⁴⁵ which also our fathers having in succession received, did bring in with Joshua, into the possession of the nations whom God did drive out from the presence of our fathers, till the days of David,

⁴⁶ who found favour before God, and requested to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob;

⁴⁷ and Solomon built Him an house.

⁴⁸ 'But the Most High in sanctuaries made with hands doth not dwell, according as the prophet saith: