I.
AND these are the names of the sons of Israel who went into Mizraim with Jakob,
each with the men of his house entered in: Reuben, Shimeon, Levi, and Jehudah;
Issakar, Zebulon, and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. And the number
of all the souls coming from the thigh of Jakob, seventy souls, with Joseph
and his sons, who were in Mizraim.
And Joseph died, and
after him died all his brethren, and all that generation. And the souls of Israel
increased, and multiplied children, and became strong, and prevailed greatly,
and the land was filled with them. And there arose a new king (other) than he
who was formerly over Mizraim, who took no knowledge of Joseph, and walked not
in his laws. [JERUSALEM TARGUM. And a king arose (different from him who
was) formerly over Mizraim, who took no knowledge of Joseph, and walked not
in his laws.] And he said to his people, Behold now, the people of the house
of Israel are many, and are stronger than we. Come, let us take counsel against
them in these matters, to diminish them that they multiply not, so as that,
should war be arrayed against us, they be not added to our adversaries, and
destroy us that not one of us be left, and they afterward go forth from the
land. [JERUSALEM. And they kill us, and go up in peace from the land.]
And they set over them work-masters to afflict them in their servitude; and
they builded walled cities to become Pharoh's treasure-places, Tanis and Pilusin.
[JERUSALEM. Tanis and Pilusin.] But as much as they depressed them,
so much they multiplied, and so much they prevailed, and the Mizraee were troubled
in their lives before the sons of Israel. And the Mizraee enslaved the sons
of Israel, and made their lives bitter by hard service in clay and bricks, and
all the labour of the face of the field; and in all the work which they made
them do was hardness.
And Pharoh told that
he, being asleep, had seen in his dream, and, behold, all the land of Mizraim
was placed in one scale of a balance, and a lamb, the young of a sheep, was
ill the other scale; and the scale with the lamb in it overweighed. Forthwith
he sent and called all the magicians of Mizraim, and imparted to them his dream.
Immediately Jannis and Jambres, the chief of the magicians, opened their mouth
and answered Pharoh,?A certain child is about to be born in the congregation
of Israel, by whose hand will be destruc-tion to all the land of Mizraim. Therefore
did Pharoh, king of Mizraim, give counsel to the Jehudith midwives, the name
of one of whom was Shifra, who is Jokeved, and the name of the other Puvah,
who is Miriam her daughter. [JERUSALEM. And the king of Mizraim told the
Hebrew midwives, the name of the first of whom was Shifra, and she was Jokeved,
and the name of the second Puvah, she was Miriam.] And he said, When you
attend Jehudith women, and see them bear, if it be a male child, you shall kill
him; but if a daughter, you may let her live. But the midwives feared before
the Lord, and would not do according to what the king of Mizraim had said to
them, but they saved the children. And the king of Mizraim called the midwives,
and said to them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the children
? And the mid-wives said to Pharoh, The Jehudith women are not as the Mizraite,
for they are sturdy (or, courageous) and wise-minded: before the midwife cometh
to them they lift up their eyes in prayer, supplicating mercy before their Father
who is in heaven, who heareth the voice of their prayer, and at once they are
heard, and bring forth, and are delivered in peace. [JERUSALEM. Because
they are vivacious, and before the midwife cometh to them they pray before their
Father who is in heaven, and He answereth them, and they bring forth.] And
the Lord did good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and prevailed greatly.
And forasmuch as the midwives feared before the Lord, they obtained for themselves
a good name unto the ages; and the Word of the Lord up-builded for them a royal
house, even the house of the high priesthood. [JERUSALEM.. Because the midwives
feared before the Lord, they obtained for themselves a good name in the midst
of the ages, and made unto themselves houses,?the house of the Levites and the
house of the high priesthood.] But when Pharoh saw this, he commanded all
his people, saying, Every male child that is born to the Jehudaee you shall
cast into the river; but every daughter you may spare.
II. And Amram, a man of the tribe of Levi, went
and returned to live in marriage with Jokeved his wife, whom he had put away
on account of the decree of Pharoh. [JERUSALEM. And there went a man of
the tribe of Levi and took Jokeved, who was beloved of him, (or, who was related
to him,) to wife.] And she was the daughter of a hundred and thirty years
when he returned to her; but a miracle was wrought in her, and she returned
unto youth as she was, when in her minority she was called the daughter of Levi.
And the woman conceived and bare a son at the end of six months; and she saw
him to be a child of steadfastness, (or, of steadfast life,) and hid him three
months, which made the number nine. But she could conceal him no longer, for
the Mizraee had become aware of him. And she took an ark of papyrus, (tunes,)
and coated it with bitumen and pitch, and placed the child within it, and laid
him among the reeds on the bank of the river. And Miriam his sister stood at
a distance to take knowledge of what would be done to him. And the Word of the
Lord sent forth a burning sore and inflammation of the flesh upon the land of
Mizraim; and the daughter of Pharoh came down to refresh herself at the river.
And her handmaids, walking upon the bank of the river, saw the ark among the
reeds, and put forth the arm and took it, and were immediately healed of the
burning and inflammation. And she opened, and saw the child, and, behold, the
babe wept; and she had compassion upon him, and said, This is one of the children
of the Jehudaee. And his sister said to Pharoh's daughter, May I go and call
for thee a nursing woman from the Jehudesses, to suckle the babe for thee ?
And Pharoh's daughter said, Go; and the damsel went and called the child's mother.
And the daughter of Pharoh said, Take this child and suckle it for me, and I
will give thee thy wages And the woman took the child and suckled him. And the
child grew, and was brought to Pharoh's daughter, and he was beloved by her
as a son; and she called his name Mosheh, Because, said she, I drew him out
of the water of the river. [JERUSALEM. I uplifted him.]
And in those days when Mosheh
was grown up, he went forth to his brethren, and saw the anguish of their souls,
and the greatness of their toil. And he saw a Mizraite man strike a Jewish man
of his brethren; and Mosheh turned, and considered in the wisdom of his mind,
and understood that in no generation would there arise a proselyte from that
Mizraite man, and that none of his children's children would ever be con-verted;
and he smote the Mizraite, and buried him in the sand. [JERUSALEM. And Mosheh,
by the Holy Spirit, considering both the young, men, saw that, behold, no proselyte
would ever spring from that Mizraite; and he killed him, and hid him in the
sand.]
And he went out the second
day, and looked; and, behold, Dathan and Abiram, men of the Jehudaee contended;
and seeing Dathan put forth his hand against Abiram to smite him, he said to
him, Wherefore dost thou smite thy companion ? And Dathan said to him, Who is
he who hath appointed thee a chief man and a judge over us ? Wilt thou kill
me, said he, as thou didst the Mizraite ? And Mosheh was afraid, and said, Verily,
the thing has become known. And Pharoh heard this thing, and sought to kill
Mosheh; and Mosheh escaped before Pharoh, to dwell in the land of Midian. And
he sat by a well. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came
and drew, and filled the watering-troughs, to give drink to the flocks of their
father. But the shepherds came and drave them away. And Mosheh arose in the
power of his might, and rescued them, and gave the flocks drink. And they came
to Reuel, their grandfather, who said to them, How is it that you are come (so)
early to-day? And they replied, A Mizraite man not only delivered us from the
hand of the shepherds, but also himself drawing drew and watered the flock.
And he said to his son's daughters, And where is he ? Why did you leave the
man ? Call him, and let him eat bread. But when Reuel knew that Mosheh had fled
from before Pharoh he cast him into a pit; but Zipporah, the daughter of his
son, maintained him with food, secretly, for the time of ten years; and at the
end of ten years brought him out of the pit. And Mosheh went into the bedchamber
of Reuel, and gave thanks and prayed before the Lord, who by him would work
miracles and mighty acts. And there was shown to him the Rod which was created
between the evenings, and on which was engraven and set forth the Great and
Glorious Name, with which he was to do the wonders in Mizraim, and to divide
the sea of Suph, and to bring, forth water from the rock. And it was infixed
in the midst of the chamber, and he stretched forth his hand at once and took
it. Then, behold, Mosheh was willing to dwell with the man, and he gave Zipporah,
the daughter of his son, to Mosheh. And she bare him a male child, and he called
his name Gershom, Because, said he, a sojourner have I been in a strange land
which is not mine.
And it was after many of those
days that the king of Mizraim was struck (with disease), and he commanded to
kill the firstborn of the sons of Israel, that he might bathe himself in their
blood. And the sons of Israel groaned with the labour that was hard upon them;
and they cried, and their cry ascended to the high heavens of the Lord. And
He spake in His Word to deliver them from the travail. And their cry was heard
before the Lord, and before the Lord was the covenant remembered which He had
covenanted with Abraham, with Izhak, and with Jakob. And the Lord looked upon
the affliction of the bondage of the sons of Israel; and the repentance was
revealed before Him which they exercised in concealment, so as that no man knew
that of his companion.
III. But Mosheh was keeping the flock of Jethro
his father-in-law, the rabba of Midian; and he had led the flock to a pleasant
place of pasturage which is behind the desert, and had come to the mountain
on which was revealed the glory of the Lord, even Horeb. And Zagnugael, the
angel of the Lord, appeared to him in a fame of fire in the midst of the bush.
And he gazed, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, yet the bush was neither
burned nor consumed with fire. [JERUSALEM. And he looked, and, behold, the
bush burned with fire, yet remained in freshness, (or, was moist), neither was
it consumed.] And Mosheh said, I will turn aside now and consider this great
sight, why the bush is not burned. [JERU-SALEM. I will look at this great
sight, wherefore the bush is refreshed and not burned.] And when it was
seen before the Lord that he turned to look, the Lord called to him from the
midst of the bush and said, Mosheh, Mosheh ! And he said, Behold me. And
He said, Approach not hither, take the shoe from thy feet, for the place on
which thou standest is a holy place; and upon it thou art to receive the Law,
to teach it to the sons of Israel. And He said, I am the God of thy father,
the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Jakob. And Mosheh covered
his face; for he was afraid to look upon the height of the glory of the Shekinah
of the Lord.
And He said, The oppression
of My people who are in Mizraim is verily manifest before Me, and heard before
Me is their cry on account of them who hold them in bondage; for their affliction
is known before Me. And I have revealed Myself to thee this day, that by My
Word they may be delivered from the hand of the Mizraee, to bring them up out
of the unclean land, unto a good land, and large in its boundaries, a land yielding
milk and honey, unto the place where dwell the Kenaanaee, and the Hittaee, and
the Amoraee, and the Pherizaee, and the Hivaee, and the Jebusaee. And now, behold,
the cry of the sons of Israel cometh up before Me, and the bruising of the Mizraee
wherewith they bruise them is also revealed before Me. And now, come, and I
will send thee unto Pharoh, and thou shalt bring forth My people, the sons of
Israel, out of Mizraim.
And Mosheh said before
the Lord, Who am I, that I should go to Pharoh, and bring forth the sons of
Israel out of Mizraim? But He said, Therefore My Word shall be for thy help;
and this shall be the sign to thee that I have sent thee: when thou hast, brought
the people forth from Mizraim, ye shall worship before the Lord, because ye
shall have received the Law upon this mountain.
And Mosheh said before
the Lord, Behold, I will go to the sons of Israel, and say to them, The Lord
God of your fathers hath sent me to you: and they will say to me, What is His
Name ? What shall I say to them ? And the Lord said unto Mosheh, He who spake,
and the world was; who spake, and all things were. And He said, This thou shalt
say to the sons of Israel, I AM HE WHO IS, AND WHO WILL BE, hath sent me unto
you. [JERUSALEM. And the Word of the Lord said to Mosheh, He who spake to
the world, Be, and it was; and who will speak to it, Be, and it will be. And
he said, Thus shalt thou speak to the sons of Israel, EHEYEH hath sent me unto
you.] And the Lord said again unto Mosheh, Thus shalt thou speak to the
sons of Israel, The God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak,
and the God of Jakob, hath sent me unto you. This is His Name for ever,
and this is His Memorial to every generation and generation.
Go, and assemble the
elders of Israel, and say to them, The Lord God of your fathers hath appeared
unto me, the God of Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, saying, Remembering, I have remembered
you, and the injury that is done you in Mizraim; and I have said in My Word,
I will bring you up out from the oppression of the Mizraee into the land of
the Kenaanaee, and Hittaee, and Amoraee, and Pherizaee, and Hivaee, and Jebusaee,
to the land that yieldeth milk and honey. And they will hearken to thee: and
thou and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Mizraim and say to him,
The Lord God of the Jehudaee hath called us; and now let us go a journey of
three days into the wilderness, to sacrifice before the Lord our God. But it
is manifest before Me that the king of Mizraim will not let you go, (no,) not
from fear of Him who is Mighty, until that by My Word he shall have been punished
with evil plagues. And ye will be hindered there until I have sent forth the
stroke of My power, and have smitten Mizraee with all My wonders, that I will
do among them; and afterward he will release you. And I will give this people
grace in the eyes of the Mizraee; and it shall be that when ye go free from
thence, ye shall not go empty. But a woman shall ask of her neighbour, and from
those next to the wall of her house, [JERUSALEM. Fellow resident,] vessels
of silver, and vessels of gold, and vestments; and you shall set them as crowns
upon your sons and your daughters, and make the Mizraee empty.
IV. And Mosheh answered and said, But, behold,
they will not believe me, nor hearken to me; for they will say, The Lord hath
not appeared to thee. And the Lord said to him, What is that in thy hand ? And
he said, The rod. And He said, Cast it on the ground; and he cast it to the
ground, and it became a serpent; and Mosheh fled from before it. [JERUSALEM.
And He said, Cast it on the ground; and he cast it on the ground.] And the
Lord said to Mosheh, Stretch forth thy hand and seize (it) by its tail. [JERUSALEM.
And grasp the place of its tail.] And he stretched forth his hand and grasped
it, and it became the rod in his hand: ?In order that they may believe that
the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the
God of Jakob, hath revealed Himself to thee. And the Lord said to him again,
Put now thy hand within thy breast (Choba); and he put it within his breast,
and withdrew it, and, behold, his hand was leprous, it was white as snow. And
He said, Return thy hand into thy bosom (Aitaph); and he returned his hand to
his breast, and withdrew it from his breast, and it had become clean as his
flesh. [JERUSALEM. Put now thy hand into thy breast, and he put his hand
within his breast. And if they believe not these two signs, nor receive from
thee, thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it on the ground, and
the water that thou shalt take from the river shall become blood upon the ground.
And Mosheh said before
the Lord, O Lord, I pray: I am not a man of words, nor ever have been before
that Thou didst speak with Thy servant; for I am of a staggering mouth
and staggering speech. [JERUSALEM. For of a staggering mouth and difficult
speech am I.] And the Lord said, Who is he who first put the language of
the mouth into the mouth of man? or who hath appointed the dumb or the deaf,
the open-seeing or the blind, but I the Lord ? And now go, and I by My Word
will be with the speaking of thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt
say.
And he said, I pray for
mercy before the Lord. Send now Thy sending by the hand of Phinehas, by whom
it is to be sent at the end of the days. [JERUSALEM. Send now by the hand
of him by whom it is opportune to send.] And the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Mosheh, and He said, Is it not manifest before Me that Aharon thy brother
speaking can speak ? And, behold, also, he cometh forth to meet thee, and will
see thee and rejoice in his heart. And thou shalt speak with him, and put the
matter in his mouth, and My Word shall be with the word of thy mouth, and with
the word of his mouth, and I will instruct you what you are to do. And he shall
speak for thee with the people, and be to thee an interpreter, and thou to him
the principal, seeking instruction from before the Lord. [JERUSALEM. He
shall be to thee an interpreter, and thou to him one inquiring instruction from
before the Lord.] And this rod take thou in thy hand to work therewith the
signs.
And Mosheh went, and
returned unto Jethro his father in law, and said, I will now go to my brethren
who are in Mizraim, to see how they now live. And Jethro said to Mosheh, Go
in peace. And the Lord said unto Mosheh in Midian, Go, return to Mizraim; for
they have come to nought, and gone down from their possessions; behold, all
the men who sought to take thy life are reckoned as the dead.
And Mosheh took his wife
and his sons, and made them ride on the ass, and returned to the land of Mizraim.
And Mosheh took the rod which he had brought away from the chamber of his father-in-law;
and it was from the sapphire Throne of glory, in weight forty sein; and upon
it was engraven and set forth the Great and Glorious Name by which the signs
should be wrought before the Lord by his hand. And the Lord said to Mosheh,
In going to return into Mizraim, consider all the miracles that I have put in
thy hand, and do them before Pharoh: and I will make obstinate the disposition
(passion) of his heart, and he will not deliver the people. And thou shalt say
to Pharoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My first-born son; and to thee I say,
Let My son go free, that he may worship before Me; and if thou refuse to let
him go, behold, I will slay thy first-born son.
But it was on the way,
in the place of lodging that the angel of the Lord met him, and sought to kill
him, because Gershom his son had not been circumcised, inasmuch as Jethro his
father-in-law had not permitted him to circumcise him: but Eliezer had been
circum-cised, by an agreement between them two. And Zipporah took a stone, and
circumcised the foreskin of Gershom her son, and brought the severed part to
the feet of the angel, the Destroyer, and said, The husband sought to circumcise,
but the father-in-law obstructed him; and now let this blood of the circumcision
atone for my husband. [JERUSALEM. And she circumcised the foreskin of her
son, and brought before the feet of the Destroyer, and said, The husband could
have cir-cumcised, but the father-in-law did not permit him; but now, let the
blood of this circumcision atone for the fault of this husband.] And the
destroying angel desisted from him, so that Zipporah gave thanks, and said,
How lovely is the blood of this circumcision that bath delivered my husband
from the angel of destruction! [JERUSALEM. And when the Destroyer had ceased
from him, Zipporah gave thanks and said, How lovely is the blood of this circumcision
which hath saved my husband from the hand of the angel of death !]
And the Lord had said
to Aharon, Go and meet Mosheh in the desert. And he came and met him at the
mountain where was revealed the glory of the Lord, and he embraced him. And
Mosheh delivered to Aharon all these words with which he had sent him, and all
the signs that he had instructed him to work. And Mosheh and Aharon went, and
gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel. And Aharon spake all
the words which the Lord had spoken with Mosheh, and did the signs in the eyes
of the peo-ple. And the people believed, and heard that the Lord had remembered
the sons of Israel, and that their bondage was manifest before Him; and they
bowed them-selves and worshipped. [JERUSALEM. And they kneeled down.]
V. And after this Mosheh and Aharon went
in unto Pharoh, and said, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Release My
people, that they may make unto Me a festival in the wilderness. And Pharoh
said, The name of the Lord is not made known to me, that I should receive His
word to release Israel. I have not found written in the Book of the Angels the
name of the Lord. Of Him I am not afraid, neither will I release Israel. And
they said, The Name of the God of the Jehudaee is invoked by (or upon) us. We
will go, then, to proceed three days into the desert, and offer the sacrifices
of a festival before the Lord God, that death and slaughter befall us not. And
the king of Mizraim said to Mosheh and Aharon, Why do you make the people cease
from their labours? Go to your work. And Pharoh said, Behold, this people of
the land are many, whom you would stop from their service. And Pharoh that day
commanded the officers of the people and their exactors, saying, You shall no
more give straw to the people to cast bricks as heretofore; let them go and
collect straw for themselves; but the (same) number of bricks which they have
heretofore made ye shall lay upon them, and not diminish from it, because they
are idle; therefore they clamour, saying, Let us go to offer the sacrifice of
a festival before our God. Make their work strenuous upon the men, that they
may be occupied with it, and not be setting their hopes upon lying words. And
the officers and exactors of the people went forth, and said to the people,
Thus saith Pharoh, I will not give you straw; you must go and take straw wherever
you can find it; for your work will not in anywise be diminished. And the people
were scattered abroad in all the land of Mizraim to gather stubble for the straw.
But the officers were pressing, saying, Fulfil your work day by day, as you
did when the straw was given you. And the exactors whom Pharoh set over them
as officers beat the sons of Israel, saying, Why have not you fulfilled your
appointment, to cast (the same number of) bricks as heretofore, to-day as yesterday?
And the foremen came, and cried before Pharoh, saying, Why hast thou dealt thus
with thy ser-vents ? Thou hast not given thy servants the straw, and (yet) say
they to us, Make the bricks; and, behold, they beat thy servants, and the guilty
treatment of thy people is strong:?but it goeth up! But he said, You are idle,
idle: therefore you are saying, Let us go and over the sacrifice of a festival
before our God. And now, go, work; but the straw shall not be given you, yet
the number of the bricks you shall produce. And the fore-men of the sons of
Israel saw that they were in evil, (in his) saying, Ye are not to withhold the
assignment of your bricks from day to day. And they met Mosheh and Aharon, who
stood before them when they came out from the presence of Pharoh, and they said
to them, Our affliction is manifest before the Lord, but our punishment is from
you who have made our smell offensive before Pharoh and his servants; for you
have occasioned a sword to be put into their hand to kill us. And Mosheh returned
before the Lord, and said, O Lord, why hast Thou done evil to this people, and
wherefore hast Thou sent me? From the hour that I went in unto Pharoh to speak
in Thy name, this people hath suffered evil, and delivering Thou hast not delivered
them.
VI. And the Lord said unto Mosheh, Now
have I seen what Pharoh hath done: for by a strong hand shall he release them,
and with a strong hand drive them forth from his land.
AND the Lord spake with Mosheh, and said to him, I am the Lord who revealed
Myself to thee in the midst of the bush, and said to thee, I am the Lord. And
I was revealed unto Abraham, and to Izhak, and to Jakob, as El-Shaddai; but
My Name Ye-ya, as it discovereth My Glory, was not known to them. [JERUSALEM.
And the Lord was revealed in His Word unto Abraham, to Izhak, and to Jakob,
as the God of Heaven; but the Name of the Word of the Lord was not known to
them.] And I confirmed also My covenant with them, to give them the land
of Kenaan, the land of their sojourning in which they were sojourners. And now
cometh before Me the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Mizraee do
enslave them; and I remember My covenant. Therefore say to the sons of Israel,
I am the Lord; and I will bring you forth from the oppressive bondage of the
Mizraee, and will deliver you from your servitude, and save you with an uplifted
arm, and by great judgments. And I will bring you nigh before Me to be a people,
and I will be a God unto you, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God
who hath led you forth from the hard service of the Mizraee. And I will bring
you into the land which I covenanted by My Word to give unto Abraham, to Izhak,
and to Jakob; and I will give it to you for an inheritance. I Am the Lord. And
Mosheh spake according to this to the sons of Israel; but they received not
from Mosheh, through anxiety of spirit, and from the strange and hard service
which was upon their hands. [JERUSALEM. From anxiety.]
And the Lord spake to
Mosheh, saying, Go in, speak with Pharoh, the king of Mizraim, that he release
the children of Israel from his land. And Mosheh said before the Lord, Behold,
the sons of Israel do not hearken to me; how then will Pharoh hearken to me,
and I a man difficult of speech? And the Lord spake with Mosheh and with Aharon,
and gave them admoni-tion for the sons of Israel, and sent them to Pharoh, king
of Mizraim, to send forth the children of Israel from the land of Mizraim.
These are the heads of
the house of their fathers. -The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, Hanok
and Phallu, Hezron and Karmi; these are the race of Reuben. And the sons of
Shimeon, Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jakin, and Sochar, and Shaul (he is
Zimri, who yielded himself unto fornication, as among the Kenaanaee); these
are the race of Shimeon. And these are the names of the sons of Levi, according
to their race: Gershon, and Kehath, and Merari. And the years of the life of
Levi a hundred and thirty and seven years: he lived to see Mosheh and Aharon
the deliverers of Israel. And the sons of Gershon,
Libni and Shemei, according to their generations. And the sons of Kehath, Amram,
and Jitshar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kehath the
saint, a hundred and thirty and three years. He lived to see Phinehas, who is
Elijah, the Great Priest, who is to be sent to the captivity of Israel at the
end of the days. And the sons of Merari, Mahali and Mushi; these are the race
of Levi, according to the generations. And Amram took Jokeved his cousin to
wife, and she bare him Aharon and Mosheh; and the years of Amram the saint were
a hundred and thirty and seven years. He lived to see the children of Rechabia
bar Gershom bar Mosheh. And the sons of Jitshar (were) Korah, and Nepheg, and
Zichri. And the sons of Uzziel, Mishael, and Elsaphan, and Sithri. And Aharon
took Elisheba, daughter of Aminadab, sister of Nachshon, unto him to wife, and
she bare him Nadab and Abibu, Elasar and Ithamar. And the sons of Korah, Assir,
and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the race of Korah. And Elasar bar Aharon
took unto him a wife from the daughters of Jethro who is Putiel, and she bare
him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers of the Levites, according to
their generations. These are Aharon and Mosheh, to whom the Lord said, Bring
forth the sons of Israel free from the land ; of Mizraim, according to their
hosts;?these are they who spake with Pharoh, king of Mizraim, that he should
send out the sons of Israel from Mizraim;?it is Mosheh the prophet, and Aharon
the priest.
And it was in the
day when the Lord spake with Mosheh in the land of Mizraim, that Aharon gave
a listening ear, and heard what He spake with him. And the Lord spake with Mosheh,
and said to him, I am the Lord. Say to Pharoh, king of Mizraim, all that I tell
thee. And Mosheh said before the Lord, Behold, I am difficult in speaking; how
then will Pharoh hearken to me?
VII. But the Lord said to Mosheh, Wherefore
art thou fearful? Behold, I have set thee a terror to Pharoh, as if thou wast
his God, and Aharon thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak to Aharon
that which I command thee, and Aharon thy brother shall speak to Pharoh, that
he release the sons of Israel from his land. But I will harden the disposition
of Pharoh's heart, to multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Mizraim.
Nor will Pharoh hearken to you. But I will shoot among them the arrows of death,
and inflict the plagues