Shemot

📜 The Story

After Joseph and his brothers died, the Israelites had many children and grew into a big nation in Egypt. A new Pharaoh was afraid of them. He made them slaves and forced them to do hard work. Then he ordered that every baby boy be thrown into the Nile River.

A woman from the tribe of Levi hid her baby son for three months. When she could not hide him anymore, she put him in a basket and set it in the reeds of the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter found the basket. She felt sorry for the baby and named him Moses. His own mother, Jochebed, was called to nurse him. When he grew older, he went to live in Pharaoh's palace.

When Moses grew up, he went out to see how hard his people were working. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, and he struck the Egyptian down. Then Moses had to run away to Midian. He settled there, married Zipporah, and took care of the sheep of her father, Jethro.

One day, near Mount Horeb, God appeared to Moses in a bush that was on fire but did not burn up. God called Himself 'Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh,' which means 'I Will Be What I Will Be.' God told Moses to go back to Egypt and lead the people out, together with his brother Aaron. He gave Moses signs to show the people, so they would believe him.

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and asked him to let the people go. Instead, Pharaoh made their work even harder. Moses cried out to God. God promised that Moses would soon see what He would do to Pharaoh, and that He would set Israel free with a mighty hand.