his kindred, which conceived and brought forth a son, and he saw him
elegant and fair, and hid him three months, and when he might no longer
hide him, took a little crib of rushes and wickers and pitched it with
glue and pitch, and put therein the child, and set it on the river, and
let it drive down in the stream, and the sister of the child standing
afar, considering what should fall thereof. And it happed that same
time, the daughter of king Pharaoh descended down to the river for to
wash her in the water, and her maidens went by the brink, which then,
when she saw the little crib or fiscelle she sent one of her maidens to
fetch and take it up, which so fetched and brought to her, and she saw
therein lying a fair child; and she having pity on it said: This is one
of the children of the Hebrews. To whom anon spake the sister of the
child: Wilt thou, said she, that I go and call thee a woman of the
Hebrews that shall and may nourish this child? She answered: Go thy way.
The maid went and called his mother, to whom Pharaoh's daughter said:
Take this child and nourish him to me, and I shall give to thee thy meed
and reward. The mother took her child and nourished it, and when it was
weaned and could go she delivered it to the daughter of king Pharaoh,
whom she received and adopted instead of a son and named him Moses,
saying that I took him out of the water. And he there grew and waxed a
pretty child. And as Josephus, Antiquitatum, saith: This daughter of
Pharaoh, which was named Termuthe, loved well Moses and reputed him as
her son by adoption, and on a day brought him to her father, who for his
beauty took him in his arms and made much of him, and set his diadem on
his head, wherein was his idol. And Moses anon took it, and cast it
under his feet and trod on it, wherefore the king was wroth, and
demanded of the great doctors and magicians what should fall of this
child. And they kalked on his nativity and said: This is he that shall
destroy thy reign and put it under foot, and shall rule and govern the
Hebrews. Wherefore the king anon decreed that he should be put to death.
But others said that Moses did it of childhood and ought not to die
therefore, and counselled to make thereof a proof, and so they did.
They set tofore him a platter full of coals burning, and a platter full
of cherries, and bade him eat, and he took and put the hot coals in his
mouth and burned his tongue, which letted his speech ever after; and
thus he escaped the death. Josephus saith that when Pharaoh would have
slain him, Termuthe, his daughter, plucked him away and saved him. Then
on a time as Moses was full grown, he went to his brethren, and saw the
affliction of them, and a man of Egypt smiting one of the Hebrews, his
brethren. And he looked hither and thither and saw no man. He smote the
Egyptian and slew him and hid him in the sand. And another day he went
out and found two of the Hebrews brawling and fighting together; then he
said to him that did wrong: Why smitest thou thy neighbor? which
answered: Who hath ordained thee prince and judge upon us? wilt thou
slay me as thou slewest that other day an Egyptian? Moses was afeard and
said to himself: How is this deed known and made open? Pharaoh heard
hereof and sought Moses for to slay him, which then fled from his sight
and dwelled in the land of Midian, and sat there by a pit side. The
priest of Midian had seven daughters which came thither for to draw
water, and to fill the vessels for to give drink to the flocks of the
sheep of their father. Then came on them the herdmen and put them from
it. Then rose Moses and defended the maidens and let them water their
sheep, which then returned to their father Jethro. And he said to them:
Why come ye now earlier than ye were wont to do? They said that a man of
Egypt hath delivered us from the hand of the herdmen, and also he drew
water for us and gave to the sheep drink. Where is he, said he, why left
ye the man after you? go call him that he may eat some bread with us.
Then Moses sware that he would dwell with him. And he took Zipporah one
of his daughters aad wedded her to his wife, which conceived and bare
him a son whom he called Gershom, saying: I was a stranger in a strange
land. She brought to him forth another son whom he named Eleazar,
saying: The God of my father is my helper and hath kept me from the
hand of Pharaoh.
Long time after this died the king of Egypt, and the children of Israel,
wailing, made great sorrow for the oppression of their labor, and cried
unto God for help. Their cry came unto God of their works, and God heard
their wailing, and remembered the promise he made with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and our Lord beheld the children of Israel and knew them.
Moses fed the sheep of Jethro his wife's father. When he had brought the
sheep into the innermost part of the desert he came unto the mount of
God, Oreb. Our Lord appeared to him in flame of fire in the midst of a
bush, and he saw the fire in the bush, and the bush burned not. Then
said Moses, I shall go and see this great vision why the bush burneth
not. Our Lord then beholding that he went for to see it, called him,
being in the bush, and said: Moses, Moses, which answered: I am here.
Then said our Lord: Approach no nearer hitherward. Take off thy shoon
from thy feet, the place that thou standest on is holy ground. And said
also: I am God of thy fathers, God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God
of Jacob. Moses then hid his face, and durst not look toward God. To
whom God said: I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I
have heard their cry of the hardness that they suffer in their works,
and I knowing the sorrow of them am descended to deliver them from the
hand of the Egyptians, and shall lead them from this land into a good
land and spacious, into a land that floweth milk and honey, unto the
places of Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and
Jebusites. The cry of the children of Israel is come to me, I have seen
their affliction, how they be oppressed of the Egyptians. But come to me
and I shall send thee unto Pharaoh that thou shalt lead the children of
Israel out of Egypt. Then Moses said to him: Who am I that shall go to
Pharaoh and lead the children out of Egypt? To whom God said: I shall be
with thee, and this shall be the sign that I send thee. When thou shalt
have led out my people of Egypt, thou shalt offer to God upon this hill.
Moses said unto God: Lo! if I go to the children of Israel and say to
them: God of your fathers hath sent me to you; if they say: What is his
name? what shall I say? Our Lord said to Moses: I am that I am. He said:
Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He that is, sent me to
you, and yet shalt thou say to them: The Lord God of your fathers, God
of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, hath appeared to me saying:
This is my name for evermore, and this is my memorial from generation to
generation. Go and gather together the seniors and aged men of Israel,
and say to them: The Lord God of your fathers hath appeared to me, God
of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, saying: Visiting I have
visited you, and have seen all that is fallen in Egypt, and I shall lead
you out of the affliction of Egypt into the land of Canaan, Ethei, etc.,
unto the land flowing milk and honey, and they shall hear thy voice.
Thou shalt go and take with thee the seniors of Israel to the king of
Egypt, and shalt say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews hath called us;
we shall go the journey of three days in wilderness that we may offer to
our Lord God. But I know well that the king of Egypt shall not suffer
you to go but by strong hand. I shall stretch out my hand and shall
smite Egypt in all my marvels that I shall do amid among them. After
that he shall let you go. I shall then give my grace to this people
tofore the Egyptians, and when ye shall go out ye shall not depart void,
nor with nought, but every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of
her hostess, vessels of silver and of gold, and clothes, and them shall
ye lay on your sons, and on your daughters, and ye shall rob Egypt. Then
Moses answered and said: They shall not believe me ne hear my voice, but
shall say: God hath not appeared to thee.
God said then to him: What is that thou holdest in thine hand? He
answered: A rod. Our Lord said: Cast it on the ground. He threw it down
and it turned into a serpent, whereof Moses was afeard and would have
fled. Our Lord said to him: Put forth thy hand and hold him by the tail;
he stretched forth his hand and held him, and it turned again into a
rod. To this, that they believe thee, that I have appeared to thee. And
yet our Lord said to him: Put thy hand into thy bosom, which, when he
hath put in, and drawn out again, it was like a leper's hand. Our Lord
bade him to withdraw it into his bosom again, and he drew it out and it
was then like that other flesh. If they hear not thee, and believe by
the first sign and token, they shall believe thee by the second. If they
believe none of the two ne hear thy voice, then take water of the river
and pour on the dry ground, and whatsoever thou takest and drawest shall
turn into blood. Then Moses said: I pray the Lord send some other, for I
am not eloquent, but have a letting in my speech. Our Lord said to him:
Who made the mouth of a man, or who hath made a man dumb or deaf, seeing
or blind, not I? Go, therefore, I shall be in thy mouth and shall teach
thee what thou shalt say. Then said Moses: I beseech thee Lord, said he,
send some other whom thou wilt. Our Lord was wroth on Moses and said:
Aaron thy brother deacon, I know that he is eloquent, lo! he shall come
and meet with thee, and seeing thee he shall be glad in his heart. Speak
thou to him and put my words in his mouth, and I shall be in thy mouth
and in his mouth, and I shall show to you what ye ought to do, and he
shall speak for the people, and shall be thy mouth, and thou shalt be in
such things as pertain to God. Take with thee this rod in thine hand, by
which thou shalt do signs and marvels. Then Moses went to Jethro his
wife's father, and said to him, I shall go and return to my brethren
into Egypt, and see if they yet live. To whom Jethro said: Go in God's
name and place. Then said our Lord to Moses: Go and return into Egypt,
all they be now dead that sought for to slay thee. Then Moses took his
wife and his sons and set them upon an ass and returned in to Egypt,
bearing the rod of God in his hand. Then our Lord said to Aaron: Go
against Moses and meet with him in desert; which went for to meet with
him unto the mount of God, and there kissed him.
And Moses told unto Aaron all that our Lord had said to him for which he
sent him, and all the tokens and signs that he bade him do. They came
both together and gathered and assembled all the seniors and aged men of
the children of Israel. And Aaron told to them all that God had said to
Moses, and made the signs and tokens tofore the people and the people
believed it. They heard well that our Lord had visited the children of
Israel, and that he had beholden the affliction of them, wherefore they
fell down low to the ground and worshipped our Lord.
After this Moses and Aaron went unto Pharaoh and said: This saith the
Lord God of Israel: Suffer my people to depart that they may sacrifice
to me in desert. Then said Pharaoh: Who is that Lord that I may hear his
voice and leave Israel? I know not that Lord, nor I will not leave
Israel. They said to him: God of the Hebrews hath called us that we go
the journey of three days in the wilderness and sacrifice unto our Lord
God, lest peradventure pestilence or war fall to us. The king of Egypt
said to them: Why solicit ye, Moses and Aaron, the people from their
works and labor? Go ye unto your work. Pharaoh also said: The people is
much, see how they grow and multiply, and yet much more shall do if they
rested from their labor. Therefore he commanded the same day to the
prefects and masters of their works saying: In no wise give no more
chaff to the people for to make loam and clay, but let them go and
gather stubble, and make them do as much labor as they did tofore, and
lessen it nothing. They do now but cry: Let us go and make sacrifice to
our God, let them be oppressed by labor and exercised that they attend
not to leasings. Then the prefects and masters of their work said to
them that Pharaoh had commanded to give them no chaff, but they should
go and gather such as they might find, and that their work should not
therefore be minished. Then the children were disperpled for to gather
chaff, and their masters awaited on them and bade them: Make an end of
your work as ye were wont to do when that chaff was delivered to you.
And thus they were put to more affliction, and would make them to make
as many tiles as they did tofore. Then the upperest of the children of
Israel came to Pharaoh and complained saying: Why puttest thou thy
servants to such affliction? He said to them: Ye be so idle that ye say
ye will go and sacrifice to your God; ye shall have no chaff given to
you, yet ye shall work your customable work and gather your chaff also.
Then the eldest and the upperest among the Hebrews went to Moses and
Aaron and said: What have ye done? ye have so done that ye have made our
odor to stink in the sight of Pharaoh, and have encouraged him to slay
us. Then Moses counselled with our Lord how he should do, and said:
Lord, why hast thou sent me hither? For, sith I have spoken to Pharaoh
in thy name, he hath put thy people to more affliction than they had
tofore, and thou hast not delivered them. Our Lord said to Moses: Now
thou shalt see what I shall do to Pharaoh. By strong hand he shall let
you go, and in a boistous he shall cast you from his land.
Yet said our Lord to Moses: I am the Lord God that appeared to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob in my might, and my name is Adonai, I showed to them
not that. I promised and made covenant with them that I should give to
them the land of Canaan in which they dwelled. I now have heard the
wailing and the tribulations that the Egyptians oppress them with, for
which I shall deliver and bring them from the servitude of the
Egyptians. Moses told all these things to the children of Israel, and
they believed him not for the anguish of their spirits that they were
in, and hard labor. Then said our Lord to Moses: Go and enter in to
Pharaoh and bid him deliver my people of Israel out of his land. Moses
answered: How should Pharaoh hear me when the children of Israel believe
me not? Then our Lord said to Moses and Aaron that they both should go
to Pharaoh and give him in commandment to let the children of Israel to
depart. And he said to Moses: Lo! I have ordained thee to be God of
Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt say to
him all that I say to thee, and he shall say to Pharaoh that he suffer
the children of Israel to depart from his land. But I shall enhard his
heart, and shall multiply my signs and tokens in the land of Egypt, and
he shall not hear ne believe you. And I shall lead the children of
Israel my people. And shall show mine hand, and such wonders on Egypt,
that Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. Moses and Aaron did as our
Lord commanded them. Moses was eighty years old when he came and stood
tofore Pharaoh, and Aaron eighty-three years when they spake to Pharaoh.
Then when they were tofore Pharaoh, Aaron cast the rod down, tofore
Pharaoh, and anon the rod turned into a serpent. Then Pharaoh called his
magicians and jugglers and bade them do the same. And they made their
witchcraft and invocations and cast down their rods, which turned in
likewise into serpents, but the rod of Aaron devoured their rods. Yet
was the heart of Pharaoh hard and so indurate that he would not do as
God bade. Then said our Lord to Moses: The heart of Pharaoh is grieved
and will not deliver my people. Go to him to-morn in the morning and he
shall come out, and thou shalt stand when he cometh on the bank of the
river, and take in thine hand the rod that was turned into the serpent,
and say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews sendeth me to thee saying:
Deliver my people that they may offer and make sacrifice to me in
desert, yet thou hast no will to hear me. Therefore our Lord said: In
this shalt thou know that I am the Lord: Lo! I shall smite with the rod
that is in my hand the water of the flood, and it shall turn into blood;
the fishes that be in the water shall die, and the Egyptians shall be
put to affliction drinking of it. Then said our Lord to Moses: Say thou
to Aaron: Take this rod and stretch thine hand upon all the waters of
Egypt, upon the floods, rivers, ponds, and upon all the lakes where any
water is, in that they turn to blood, that it may be a vengeance in all
the land of Egypt, as well in treen vessels as in vessels of earth and
stone.
Moses and Aaron did as God had commanded them, and smote the flood with
the rod tofore Pharaoh and his servants, which turned into blood, and
the fishes that were in the river died, and the water was corrupt. And
the Egyptians might not drink the water, and all the water of Egypt was
turned into blood. And in likewise did the enchanters with their
witchcraft, and the heart of Pharaoh was so indurate that he would not
let the people depart as our Lord had commanded, but he returned home
for this time. The Egyptians went and dolven pits for water all about by
the river, and they found no water to drink but all was blood. And this
plague endured seven days, and whatsomever water the children of Israel
took in this while was fair and good water. This was the first plague
and vengeance. The second was that God sent frogs so many, that all the
land was full, the rivers, the houses, chambers, beds, that they were
woebegone, and these frogs entered into their meat, so many that they
covered all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh prayed Moses and Aaron that
God would take away these frogs, and that he would go suffer the people
to do sacrifice; and then Moses asked when he would deliver them if the
frogs were voided, and Pharaoh said: In the morn. And then Moses prayed,
and they voided all. And when Pharaoh saw that he was quit of them, he
kept not his promise and would not let them depart. The third vengeance
that God sent to them was a great multitude of hungry horse-flies, as
many as the dust of the earth, which were on men, and bit them and
beasts. And then enchanters said then to Pharaoh: This is the finger of
God. Yet would not Pharaoh let them depart. The fourth vengeance was
that God sent all manner kind of flies and lice in such wise that the
universal land of Egypt was full of all manner flies and lice, but in
the land of Goshen were none. Yet was he so indurate that he would not
let them go, but would that they should make their sacrifice to God in
that land. But Moses would not so, but would go three days' journey in
desert, and sacrifice to God there. Pharaoh said: I will that ye go into
desert, but not far, and come soon again, and pray ye for me. And Moses
prayed for him to our Lord, and the flies voided that there was not one
left. And when they were gone Pharaoh would not keep his promise. Then
the fifth plague was that God showed his hand upon the fields and upon
the horses, asses, camels, sheep and oxen, and was a great pestilence on
all the beasts. And God showed a wonder miracle between the possessions
of the Egyptians and the possessions of his people of Israel, for of the
beasts of the children of Israel there was not one that perished. Yet
was Pharaoh so hard-hearted that he would not suffer the people to
depart. The sixth plague was that Moses took ashes out of the chimney
and cast on the land. And anon all the people of Egypt, as well men as
beasts, were full of blotches, boils, and blains and wounds, and
swellings in such wise that the enchanters could ne might not stand for
pain tofore Pharaoh. Yet would not Pharaoh hear them, nor do as God had
commanded. The seventh plague was a hail so great that there was never
none like tofore, and thunder and fire that it destroyed all the grass
and herbs of Egypt and smote down all that was in the field, men and
beasts. But in the land of Goshen was none heard ne harm done. Yet would
not Pharaoh deliver them. The eighth our Lord sent to them locusts,
which is a manner great fly, called in some place an adder-bolte, which
bit them and ate up all the corn and herbs that was left, in such wise
that the people came to Pharaoh and desired him to deliver, saying that
the land perished. Then Pharaoh gave to the men license to go and make
their sacrifice, and leave their wives and children there still, till
they came again, but Moses and Aaron said they must go all, wherefore he
would not let them depart. The ninth plague and vengeance was that God
sent so great darkness upon all the land of Egypt that the darkness was
so great and horrible that they were palpable, and it endured three days
and three nights. Wheresoever the children of Israel went it was light.
Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said to them: Go ye and make
your sacrifice unto your Lord God, and let your sheep and beasts only
abide. To whom Moses said: We shall take with us such hosties and
sacrifices as we shall offer to our Lord God. All our flocks and beasts
shall go with us, there shall not remain as much as a nail that shall be
necessary in the honor of our Lord God, for we know not what we shall
offer till we come to the place. Pharaoh was so indurate and
hard-hearted that he would not let them go, and bade Moses that he
should no more come in his sight. For when thou comest thou shalt die.
Moses answered: Be it as thou hast said: I shall no more come to thy
presence. And then our Lord said to Moses: There resteth now but one
plague and vengeance, and after that he shall let you go. But first say
to all the people that every man borrow of his friend, and woman of her
neighbor, vessels of gold and silver, and clothes; our Lord shall give
to his people grace and favor to borrow of the Egyptians; and then gave
to them a commandment how they should depart. And our Lord said to
Moses: At midnight I shall enter into Egypt and the first-begotten child
and heir of all Egypt shall die, from the first-begotten son of Pharaoh
that sitteth in his throne unto the first-begotten son of the handmaid
that sitteth at the mill, and all the first-begotten of the beasts.
There shall be a great cry and clamor in all the land of Egypt in such
wise that there was never none like, ne never shall be after, and among
all the children there shall not an hound be hurt, ne woman, ne beast,
whereby ye shall know by what miracle God divideth the Egyptian and
Israel. Moses and Aaron showed all these signs and plagues tofore
Pharaoh, and his heart was so indurate that he would not let them
depart. Then when Moses had said to the children how they should do,
they departed, and ate their paschal lamb, and all other ceremonies as
be expressed in the Bible, for a law to endure ever among them, which
the children of Israel obeyed and accomplished, it was so that at
midnight our Lord smote and slew every first-begotten son throughout all
the land of Egypt, beginning at the first son and heir of Pharaoh unto
the son of the caitiff that lay in prison, and also the first-begotten
of the beasts. Pharaoh arose in the night and all his servants and all
Egypt, and there was a great clamor and sorrowful noise and cry, for
there was not a house in all Egypt but there lay therein one that was
dead. Then Pharaoh did do call Moses and Aaron in the night, and said:
Arise ye and go your way from my people, ye and the children of Israel,
as ye say ye will, take your sheep and beasts with you like as ye
desired, and at your departing bless ye me. The Egyptians constrained
the children to depart and go their way hastily, saying: We all shall
die. The children of Israel took their meal, and put it on their
shoulders as they were commanded, and borrowed vessels of silver and of
gold, and much clothing. Our Lord gave to them such favor tofore the
Egyptians that the Egyptians lent to them all that they desired, and
they spoiled and robbed Egypt.