- This article is about the book. For the event, see Exodus (event). For the parsha, see Sh'mot (parsha).
Exodus is the second book of the Torah. It takes its English name from the event in which Moses led the Jews out of Egypt and slavery. The Hebrew name of this book is Shemot.
The book begins when Joseph and his brothers died and the Israelites grew so numerous that the land was full of them. When the pharaoh who befriended Joseph died a new pharaoh came to power and he decided to make the Israelites work hard. To keep the Israelites from having more babies and to prevent a phophecy of a newborn Jew who would free the Jews from slaverly from coming true, the pharaoh ordered every newborn Israelite man child be slaughtered. So, the soldiers did this gruesome deed. However, one mother had a baby boy and deciding to save her child she placed him in a basket made of reeds. The basket was found by pharaoh's daughter Bithiah who was bathing in the river. Bithiah found the child and adopted him as her own son, since she was childless, and called the baby Moses
Moses spent his childhood and early adulthood in the palace. He grew up a prince of Egypt and was brother to the pharaoh's son. When he became a man he accidently killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave. Because pharaoh wanted Moses killed, Moses fled to Midian. He married a priest's daughter, Zipporah, and had two sons. Instead of being a prince Moses became a shepherd. the old pharaoh died and his son became king The Israelites cried even more and G- heard them. Forty years later, G-d called Moses to free the slaves. In pharaoh's palace Moses told pharaoh to let the people go. Pharaoh refused but plagues were sent to Egypt. As part of the last plague, pharaoh's son died. Every first-born Egyptian child died that night. Pharaoh begged the Israelites to go with Moses but then changed his mind and pursued the fleeing slaves. In the end the pharaoh died because he drowned with his army in the Red Sea.
See also
External links
- Text of Exodus in Hebrew and English.
- "Exodus of Moses" travel guide on Wikivoyage.