The children of Israel dwelt in Goshen for 430 years and became a
numerous people. There arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph,
and he said: The Israelites are more and mightier than we, and have
become a menace to us. Therefore he afflicted them with hard labor; but
the more he afflicted them, the more they multiplied, and the more they
spread abroad. Then he charged his people, saying: Every son that is
born to the Israelites ye shall cast into the Nile, and every daughter
ye shall save alive.
At this time a woman of the tribe of Levi bore a son, and when she saw
he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could no
longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and she put the
child in it, and laid it in the flags by the river’s bank. And his
sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. And the
daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and she had the ark
fetched, and opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the babe wept;
and she had compassion on him. Then his sister came and asked: Shall I
go and call a nurse? Pharaoh’s daughter said to her: Go. And the maiden
went and called the child’s mother. And he grew, and the mother brought
him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she called him Moses, that is, one that
is drawn out of the water. (Exodus 1; 2:1-10.)