2:1 有肋未家族的一个男子娶了肋未家族的一个女人为妻。
Now a certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2:2 这女人怀孕生了一个儿子，见他俊美，就把他藏了三个月。
who conceived and bore a son. Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months. 2:3 以后不能再藏了，就拿了一个蒲草筐子，涂上沥青和石漆，把孩子放在里面，将筐放在尼罗河边的芦苇丛中。
When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the river bank. 2:4 孩子的姐姐远远的站着，想知道孩子究竟怎样。
His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him. 2:5 当时法朗的一个公主下到尼罗河边洗澡，使女们在河边上徘徊。公主发现芦苇丛中那个筐子，就吩咐自己的使女将筐子取来。
Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maids walked along the river bank. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it. 2:6 她打开一看，见有一个孩子正在哭涕，就动了可怜他的心说：「这必是一个希伯来人的孩子。」
On opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy, crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, "It is one of the Hebrews' children." 2:7 孩子的姐姐就对法朗的公主说：「你愿意我去从希伯来妇女中给你请一个奶妈，为你乳养这个孩子吗﹖」
Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, "Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" 2:8 法朗的公主回答说：「你去罢!」少女便去叫了孩子的母亲来。
"Yes, do so," she answered. So the maiden went and called the child’s own mother. 2:9 法朗的公主对她说：「你将这孩子抱去，为我乳养他，我必给你工钱。」那妇人就接过去，乳养这个孩子。
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you." The woman therefore took the child and nursed it. 2:10 孩子长大了，那妇人就把他带到公主那里；公主遂收他作自己的儿子，给他起名叫梅瑟，说：「因为我从水里拉出了他。」
When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her son and called him Moses; for she said, "I drew him out of the water." 2:11 过了许久，梅瑟已经长大，有一次出去探望自己的同胞，看见他们作苦工，又见一个埃及人打他的一个同胞希伯来人；
On one occasion, after Moses had grown up, when he visited his kinsmen and witnessed their forced labor, he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own kinsmen. 2:12 他向四面一望，见没有人，便将那埃及人打死，将他埋在沙土中。
Looking about and seeing no one, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 2:13 第二天他又出去，见两个希伯来人打架，就对那无理的一方说：「你为什么打你同族的人﹖」
The next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So he asked the culprit, "Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?" 2:14 那人回答说：「谁立了你作我们的首领和判官﹖难到你想杀我，像杀那埃及人一样吗﹖」梅瑟就害怕了，心里想：「那事一定叫人知道了!」
But he replied, "Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses became afraid and thought, "The affair must certainly be known." 2:15 法朗听说这事，就想杀死梅瑟；而梅瑟却离开法朗逃走，去了米德杨地，坐在井边。
Pharaoh, too, heard of the affair and sought to put him to death. But Moses fled from him and stayed in the land of Midian. As he was seated there by a well, 2:16 米德杨的司祭有七个女儿，她们来打水，灌满水槽，要饮父亲的羊群。
seven daughters of a priest of Midian came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 2:17 别的牧童来了，赶走了她们；梅瑟便起来保护了她们，也饮了她们的羊。
But some shepherds came and drove them away. Then Moses got up and defended them and watered their flock. 2:18 她们回到父亲勒乌尔那里，父亲问她们说：「你们今天为什么回来的这么快﹖」
When they returned to their father Reuel, he said to them, "How is it you have returned so soon today?" 2:19 她们回答说：「有一个埃及人救我们摆脱了牧童的手，还给我们打水饮了羊群。」
They answered, "An Egyptian saved us from the interference of the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock!" 2:20 他对女儿们说：「他在那里﹖你们为什么撇下他﹖去请他来吃饭!」
"Where is the man?" he asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him there? Invite him to have something to eat." 2:21 于是梅瑟决定住在那人那里，那人将自己的女儿漆颇辣给了梅瑟为妻。
Moses agreed to live with him, and the man gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage. 2:22 她生了一个儿子，梅瑟给他起名叫革尔熊，因为他说：「我在外方作了旅客。」
She bore him a son, whom he named Gershom; for he said, "I am a stranger in a foreign land." 2:23 过了很久，埃及王死了。那时以色列子民由于劳苦工作，都叹息哀号：他们因劳役所发出的求救声，升到天主面前。
A long time passed, during which the king of Egypt died. Still the Israelites groaned and cried out because of their slavery. As their cry for release went up to God, 2:24 天主听见了他们的哀号，就记起了他与亚巴郎、依撒格和雅各伯所立的盟约。
he heard their groaning and was mindful of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 2:25 天主遂眷顾了以色列子民，特别垂念他们。
He saw the Israelites and knew. . . .