Exodus 1
1 These were the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob) who came with him to Egypt along with their families:
以色列的兒子們，各帶了家眷，同雅各伯來到埃及；他們的名字記載如下：
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
勒烏本、西默盎、勒末和猶大，
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
依撒加爾，則步隆和本雅明丹，
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
和納裴塔里，加得和阿協爾。
5 Jacob had 70 descendants there, including Joseph who was already in Egypt.
他們全是雅各伯所生的，一共七十人；若瑟那時已經在埃及。
6 Eventually Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.
若瑟和他的眾兄弟，以及這一代的人死了以後，
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.
以色列的子孫生育繁殖，數目增多，極其強盛，佈滿了那地。受壓迫
8 Then a new king came to power who didn't know anything about Joseph.
有位不認識若瑟的新王興起，統治了埃及。
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.
他對自己的人民說：「看以色列子民，比我們又多又強。
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.”
來，我們要用智謀對付他們，免得他們繁盛起來，一遇戰爭，就去與我們的敵人聯合，攻擊我們，然後離開此地。」
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.
於是派定督工管制他們，以苦役壓迫他們，叫他們給法朗建築丕通和辣默色斯兩做貯貨城。
12 But the more the Israelites were mistreated, the more they grew in numbers and spread out—and the more the Egyptians detested them.
但是越壓迫他們，他們越增多，也越繁殖，以至埃及人都怕以色列子民。
13 The Egyptians worked the Israelites brutally,
於是埃及人更嚴厲地強迫以色列子民做苦工，
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.
強迫他們作和泥做磚的苦工，田間的一切勞工，以及種種苦工，使他們的生活十分痛苦。殘害男嬰
15 Then the king gave orders to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah.
埃及王又吩咐為希伯來女人接生的收生婆，一個名叫史斐辣，一個名叫普亞的說
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.”
「你們為希伯來女人接生時，要看著她們臨盆! 若是男孩，就殺死；若是女孩，就讓她活著。」
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.
但是收生婆敬畏天主，沒有照埃及王的吩咐去作，保留了男孩的性命。
18 The king of Egypt called the midwives in and demanded to know, “Why have you done this— letting the male children live?”
埃及王將收生婆召來，問她們說：「你們為什麼這樣做，竟叫男孩活著呢﹖」
19 “Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian women,” the midwives told Pharaoh. “They give birth more easily—they have them before we midwives arrive.”
‧收收婆回答法朗說：「希伯來女人和埃及女人不同，她們富有生機，收生婆還沒有來，她們已生產了。」
20 God treated the midwives well, and the people increased in number so there were even more of them.
天主遂恩待了收生婆。以色列的子民更加增多起來，更加強盛。
21 Because the midwives revered God, he gave them families of their own.
因為收生婆敬畏天主，天主就使她們家門興旺。
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.”
法朗於是訓令他的全體人民說：「凡希伯來人所生的男孩，你們應把他丟在尼羅河裏；凡是女孩，留她活著! 」
