Exodus II 1-10.

Exodus II. 11-22.

And the king called for them, and said: Why have ye done so, and have saved the men-children?

They answered: The Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women for they themselves are skilful in the office of a midwife; and they are delivered before we come to them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied and grew exceedingly strong. And because the midwives feared God, He built them houses.*

Pharao therefore charged all his people, saying: Whatsoever shall be born of the male sex, ye shall cast into the river: whatsoever of the female, ye shall save alive.

Birth of Moses.-After this there went a man of the house of Levi; and took a wife of his own kindred. And B.C. 1571. she conceived, and bore a son: and seeing him a goodly child, hid him three months. And when she could hide him no longer, she took a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and pitch and put the little babe therein, and laid him in the sedges by the river's brink, and his sister stood afar off, to notice what would be done.

And behold the daughter of Pharao came down to wash herself in the river: and her maids walked by the river's brink. And when she saw the basket in the sedges, she sent one of her maids for it and when it was brought, she opened it, and seeing within it an infant crying, having compassion on it, she said: This is one of the babes of the Hebrews.

And the child's sister said to her: Shall I go and call to thee a Hebrew woman, to nurse the babe? She answered: Go. The maid went and called her mother. And Pharao's daughter said to her: Take this child and nurse him for me: I will

give thee thy wages. The woman took, and nursed the child: and when he was grown up, she delivered him to Pharao's daughter. And she adopted him for a son, and called him Moses, saying: Because I took him out of the water.

Moses leaves Egypt.-In those days after Moses was grown up,† he went out to his brethren and saw their B.C. 1531. affliction, and an Egyptian striking one of the Hebrews his brethren. And when he had looked about this way and that way, and saw no one there, he slew the Egyptian and

*That is, He made them to prosper.

He was then forty years old. S. Paul says of him (Heb. xi.): By faith Moses, when he was grown up, denied himself to be the son of Pharao's daughter; rather choosing to be afflicted with the people of God, than to have the pleasure of sin for a time; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

hid him in the sand.*

And going out the next day, he saw two Hebrews quarrelling: and he said to him that did the wrong: Why strikest thou thy neighbour? But he answered: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge over us: wilt thou kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian? Moses feared, and said: How is this come to be known?

And Pharao heard of this word and sought to kill Moses: but he fled from his sight, and abode in the land of Madian, and he sat down by a well.† And the priest of Madian had seven daughters, who came to draw water, and when the troughs were filled, desired to water their father's flocks. And the shepherds came and drove them away: and Moses arose, and defending the maids, watered their sheep.

And when they returned to Raguel their father, he said to them: Why are ye come sooner than usual? They answered : A man of Egypt delivered us from the hands of the shepherds : and he drew water also with us, and gave the sheep to drink. But he said: Where is he? why have you let the man go? call him that he may eat bread.

And Moses consented to dwell with him. And he took Sephora his daughter to wife and she bore him a son, whom he called Gershom, saying: I have been a stranger in a foreign country. And she bore another, whom he called Eliezer, saying: For the God of my father, my helper, hath delivered me out of the hand of Pharao.

SECT. XXV. GOD APPEARS TO MOSES, AND SENDS HIM TO BRING
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT.

and the Exodus II. labour :

Now after a long time the king of Egypt died children of Israel groaning, cried out because of the and their cry went up unto God from the work. And He heard their groaning, and remembered the covenant which He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And the Lord looked upon the children of Israel, and He knew them.

B.C. 1491.

23-25.

1-9.

The Burning Bush.-Now Moses fed the sheep of Jethro Exodus III. his father-in-law, the priest of Madian: and he drove the flock to the inner parts of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that

* Moses' indignation was stirred up at the sight of the unjust and cruel treatment of God's people, and his zeal for them led him to kill this Egyptian

in their defence.

† Madian or Midian was a country of Arabia, extending from the eastern coast of the Red Sea to the borders of Moab.

Horeb and Sinai are peaks of the same mountain.

Exodus III. 10-22.

the bush was on fire and was not burnt. And Moses said: I will go and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he went forward to see, He called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said: Moses, Moses. And he answered: Here I am. And He said: Come not nigh hither, put off the shoes from thy feet:* for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. And He said: I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face: for he durst not look at God.

And the Lord said to him: I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of the rigour of them that are over the works. And knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, into a land that floweth with milk and honey, to the places of the Canaanite, and Hethite, and Amorrhite, and Pherezite, and Hevite, and Jebusite. For the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me: and I have seen their affliction, wherewith they are oppressed by the Egyptians.

Moses sent to Pharao.-But come, and I will send thee to Pharao, that thou mayst bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

And Moses said to God: Who am I that I should go to Pharao, and should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And He said to him: I will be with thee: and this thou shalt have for a sign that I have sent thee: when thou shalt have brought My people out of Egypt, thou shalt offer sacrifice to God upon this mountain.

Moses said to God: Lo, I shall go to the children of Israel, and say to them: The God of your fathers hath sent me to you. If they should say to me: What is His name? what shall I say to them?

God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM.† He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS hath sent me to you. And God said again to Moses: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me to you: this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto

It is still a practice in Eastern countries for people to show respect by leaving their shoes or sandals at the door of a house or place of worship. So on Good Friday the priest takes off his shoes when he venerates the cross.

t I am who am. That is, I am being itself, eternal, self-existent, independent, infinite, without beginning, end, or change; and the source of all other beings. So the Catechism says, God exists of Himself.

all generations. Go, gather together the ancients of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to me, saying: Visiting I have visited you and I have seen all that hath befallen you in Egypt. And I have said that I will bring you forth out of the affliction of Egypt, into the land of the Canaanite, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and Pherezite, and Hevite, and Jebusite, to a land that floweth with milk and honey. And they shall hear thy voice: and thou shalt go in, thou and the ancients of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and thou shalt say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews hath called us we will go three days' journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord our God. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, but by a mighty hand. For I will stretch forth My hand, and will strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the midst of them: after these he will let you go. And I will give favour to this people in the sight of the Egyptians: and when you go forth, you shall not depart empty but every woman shall ask of her neighbour, and of her that is in her house, vessels of silver and of gold, and raiment, and you shall put them on your sons and daughters, and shall spoil Egypt.

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Moses answered and said: They will not believe me, nor Exodus IV. hear my voice, but they will say: The Lord hath not appeared 1-19. to thee.

Then He said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod. And the Lord said: Cast it down upon the ground. He cast it down, and it was turned into a serpent so that Moses fled from it. And the Lord said: Put out thy hand, and take it by the tail. and took hold of it, and it was turned into a rod. That they may believe, saith He, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to thee.

He put forth his hand,

And the Lord said again: Put thy hand into thy bosom. And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it forth leprous as snow. And He said: Put back thy hand into thy bosom. He put it back, and brought it out again, and it was like the other flesh. If they will not believe thee, saith He, nor hear the voice of the former sign, they will believe the word of the latter sign. But if they will not even believe these two signs, nor hear thy voice, take of the river water, and pour it out upon the dry land: and whatsoever thou drawest out of the river shall be turned into blood.

Exodus IV.

Moses said: I beseech Thee, Lord, I have not been eloquent from yesterday and the day before and since Thou hast spoken to Thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue.

The Lord said to him: Who made man's mouth? or who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? did not I? Go, therefore, and I will be in thy mouth and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak.

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But he said: I beseech Thee, Lord, send whom Thou wilt send. The Lord being angry at Moses, said: Aaron the Levite is thy brother, I know that he is eloquent: behold he cometh forth to meet thee, and seeing thee shall be glad at heart. Speak to him, and put My words in his mouth and I will be in thy mouth, and in his mouth, and will show you what you must do. He shall speak in thy stead to the people, and shall be thy mouth: but thou shalt be to him on the part of God. And take this rod in thy hand, wherewith thou shalt do the signs.

Moses went his way, and returned to Jethro his father-inlaw and said to him: I will go and return to my brethren into Egypt, that I may see if they be yet alive. And Jethro said to him: Go in peace. And the Lord said to Moses, in Madian : Go, and return into Egypt: for they are all dead that sought thy life.

Moses returns to Egypt.-Moses therefore took his wife, 20-23. and his sons, and set them upon an ass and returned into Egypt, carrying the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said to him as he was returning into Egypt: See that thou do all the wonders before Pharao, which I have put in thy hand: I shall harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. And thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Israel is My son, My first-born. I have said to thee: Let My son go, that he may serve Me, and thou wouldst not let him go: behold I will kill thy son, thy first-born.

And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the desert to meet Exodus IV. 27-31. Moses. And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, by which He had sent him, and the signs that He had commanded. And they came together, and they assembled all the ancients of the children of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had said to Moses: and he wrought the signs before the people, and the people believed. And they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel: and that He had looked upon their affliction: and falling down they adored.