Exodus 1
1 These were the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob) who came with him to Egypt along with their families:
Hæc sunt nomina filiorum Israël qui ingressi sunt in Ægyptum cum Jacob: singuli cum domibus suis introierunt:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judas,
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
Issachar, Zabulon et Benjamin,
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
Dan et Nephthali, Gad et Aser.
5 Jacob had 70 descendants there, including Joseph who was already in Egypt.
Erant igitur omnes animæ eorum qui egressi sunt de femore Jacob, septuaginta: Joseph autem in Ægypto erat.
6 Eventually Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.
Quo mortuo, et universis fratribus ejus, omnique cognatione illa,
7 However, the Israelites had many children and their numbers increased rapidly. In fact there were so many of them that they became very powerful—the country was full of them.
filii Israël creverunt, et quasi germinantes multiplicati sunt: ac roborati nimis, impleverunt terram.
8 Then a new king came to power who didn't know anything about Joseph.
Surrexit interea rex novus super Ægyptum, qui ignorabat Joseph.
9 He conferred with his fellow Egyptians and said, “Look at these Israelites—there are more than them than us, and they're more powerful than us.
Et ait ad populum suum: Ecce, populus filiorum Israël multus, et fortior nobis est.
10 We've got to make plan to deal with them before they become so many that if there's a war they'll side with our enemies and fight us, and flee the country.”
Venite, sapienter opprimamus eum, ne forte multiplicetur: et si ingruerit contra nos bellum, addatur inimicis nostris, expugnatisque nobis egrediatur de terra.
11 So the Egyptians made them do forced labor and put taskmasters in charge of them. They used them to build the storage towns of Pithom and Rameses.
Præposuit itaque eis magistros operum, ut affligerent eos oneribus: ædificaveruntque urbes tabernaculorum Pharaoni, Phithom et Ramesses.
12 But the more the Israelites were mistreated, the more they grew in numbers and spread out—and the more the Egyptians detested them.
Quantoque opprimebant eos, tanto magis multiplicabantur, et crescebant:
13 The Egyptians worked the Israelites brutally,
oderantque filios Israël Ægyptii, et affligebant illudentes eis,
14 making their lives a misery. They made them do hard labor, building with mortar and brick, and all kind of heavy work in the fields. In all of this hard labor they treated them brutally.
atque ad amaritudinem perducebant vitam eorum operibus duris luti et lateris, omnique famulatu, quo in terræ operibus premebantur.
15 Then the king gave orders to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah.
Dixit autem rex Ægypti obstetricibus Hebræorum, quarum una vocabatur Sephora, altera Phua,
16 He told them, “When you assist the Hebrew women during childbirth, if you see it's a boy, kill him; but if it's a girl, let her live.”
præcipiens eis: Quando obstetricabitis Hebræas, et partus tempus advenerit: si masculus fuerit, interficite eum: si femina, reservate.
17 But because the midwives revered God, they didn't do what the king of Egypt had ordered. They let the boys live as well.
Timuerunt autem obstetrices Deum, et non fecerunt juxta præceptum regis Ægypti, sed conservabant mares.
18 The king of Egypt called the midwives in and demanded to know, “Why have you done this— letting the male children live?”
Quibus ad se accersitis, rex ait: Quidnam est hoc quod facere voluistis, ut pueros servaretis?
19 “Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian women,” the midwives told Pharaoh. “They give birth more easily—they have them before we midwives arrive.”
Quæ responderunt: Non sunt Hebreæ sicut ægyptiæ mulieres: ipsæ enim obstetricandi habent scientiam, et priusquam veniamus ad eas, pariunt.
20 God treated the midwives well, and the people increased in number so there were even more of them.
Bene ergo fecit Deus obstetricibus: et crevit populus, confortatusque est nimis.
21 Because the midwives revered God, he gave them families of their own.
Et quia timuerunt obstetrices Deum, ædificavit eis domos.
22 Then Pharaoh issued this order to all his people: “Throw every Hebrew boy that's born into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Præcepit ergo Pharao omni populo suo, dicens: Quidquid masculini sexus natum fuerit, in flumen projicite: quidquid feminini, reservate.
