1

Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

2

And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

3

And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

4

Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

5

And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not [so much as] to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when [as yet] he had no child.

6

And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat [them] evil four hundred years.

7

And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

8

And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so [Abraham] begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day and Isaac [begat] Jacob and Jacob [begat] the twelve patriarchs.

9

And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

10

And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11

Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

12

But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

13

And at the second [time] Joseph was made known to his brethren and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

14

Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to [him], and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

15

So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

16

And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor [the father] of Sychem.

17

But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

18

Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.

19

The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

20

In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

21

And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

22

And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

23

And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

24

And seeing one [of them] suffer wrong, he defended [him], and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

25

For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

26

And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren why do ye wrong one to another?

27

But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

28

Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?

29

Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

30

And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

31

When Moses saw [it], he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold [it], the voice of the Lord came unto him,

32

[Saying], I [am] the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

33

Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

34

I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.