There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rideth on the heaven for thy help,

26

And in his majesty on the skies.

The eternal God is a refuge,

27

And everlasting arms are [stretched out] beneath,

A people victorious by Yahweh?

He is the 'shield' of thy help,

And the sword that maketh thee glorious.

Thy foes shall feign thee friendship;

And thou shalt tread [victorious] on their high places.

MOSES' DEATH AND BURIAL.

[So Moses went up] to 'the top of Pisgah' that is 34-1b. over against Jericho [the City of Palm-trees]. And Yahweh shewed him all the land. And Yahweh said unto him, This 4 is the land which I sware' unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine own eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. [So Moses died there] and he was buried 6 in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor.

THE EPHRAIMITE PROPHETIC DOCUMENT E.

CIRC. 750 B. C.

(THE) EXODUS.

STORY OF THE OPPRESSION IN EGYPT. PHARAOH'S CRUEL COMMANDS FRUSTRATED.

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, which had not 1-8 known Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the peo- 9 ple of the children of Israel is becoming 'too many and too mighty' for us: come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they 10 multiply, and it come to pass, that, when we are entangled in some* war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land.

And the king of 18

So the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of 15 which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: and he said, When ye do the office of a 16 midwife to the Hebrew women, look [while they are still] upon the birthstool (?); if it be a son, then ye shall kill him ; but if it be a daughter, then she may live. But the midwives 17 'feared God,' and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. Egypt sent for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the 19 Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and are delivered ere the midwife come unto them. And 'God' dealt well with the midwives. And it 20-21 came to pass, because the midwives 'feared''God,' that he established clans for them. Then Pharaoh charged all his 22 people, saying, Every son that is born to the Hebrews † ye shall cast into the Nile, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

*Text of Sam. and all versions.

Sam., LXX., Jer. Targum.

319

2-I

PARENTAGE AND BIRTH OF MIRIAM, AARON AND MOSES.

And there went a man of the stock of Levi [named (Amram ?)] and took to wife [(Jochehed ?)] the daughter of Levi. [And she bare unto him a daughter and called her name Miriam. And again she bare a son and called his name Aaron. And God came unto Amram (?) in a dream and said, I have chosen thy house that from thee there should come deliverance for my people. For thy daughter shall be a prophetess unto me, and the son that is born to thee shall be my priest, to go up unto mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me, and unto his house and the house of thy father will I give all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire (1. Sam. iii. 27ff). And I will give thee a second son who shall be the deliverer of my people.

And it came to pass after these things, when Pharaoh had commanded his people, saying, Ye shall cast the men-children of the Hebrews into the Nile, that Amram visited his 2 wife]. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a 'child' of goodly form, she 3 hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of papyrus, and daubed it with bitumen, and with pitch; and she put the 'child' therein, and 4 laid it in the flags by the brink' of the Nile. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. 5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to the Nile to bathe; and her maidens, walked along by the side' of the Nile; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her 6 maidservant' to fetch it. And she opened it, and, behold, a babe weeping. And she had compassion on him, saying 7 to herself, This is one of the Hebrews' 'children.' Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse 8 the child for thee? And Pharoah's daughter said to her, 9 Go. So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this 'child' away,

and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.

And

the woman took the 'child,' and nursed it. And the 'child' 10 grew up and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, (as if from Hebrew mashah, to "draw out") and said, Because I "drew him out" of the water.

MOSES' FRUITLESS ATTEMPT TO DELIVER HIS PEOPLE. HIS FLIGHT TO MIDIAN AND MARRIAGE THERE.

:

And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown II up, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens and he saw an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and 12 when he saw that there was no man [in sight], he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And he went out the 13 second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who 14 made thee a prince and a judge over us? thinkest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses was taken with fear, saying to himself, Of a truth then the thing is known. And Pharaoh also heard of this thing, and he 15 sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. [And Moses took refuge in the house of a Midianite named Jethro, and Jethro gave him his daughter to wife. And she bare unto Moses two sons in Midian]. The name of the one was 18—3 Gershom; for he said, I became a "stranger" (ger) 2-22b in a 'strange' land; and the name of the other was 18-4 Eliezer, for [he said], The "God" (el) of my father was my "help" (ezer) and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

THE DIVINE CALL OF MOSES AT HOREB. GOD REVEALS HIS NAME YAHWEH.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of 'Jethro' his father 3 in law, and having once led the flock to the further side of