Chapter 14 - The Israelites Leave Egypt / 第十四章 - 以色列人离开埃及

Do you remember记住，回忆起/rɪˈmembər/ reading about Abraham亚伯拉罕（圣经人物）/ˈeɪbrəhæm/? When Abraham lived in Ur乌尔（古代城市）/ʊr/, he was a polytheist多神论者/ˈpɒliθiɪst/—he believed in the moon月亮/muːn/ god and many other gods. But after Abraham heard a voice声音/vɔɪs/ telling him to go to Canaan迦南（古代地区）/ˈkeɪnən/, he became a monotheist一神论者/ˈmɒnəθiɪst/. He believed there was only one god, and that the voice that spoke to him was the voice of that one god.

Abraham had a son儿子/sʌn/ named Isaac以撒（圣经人物）/ˈaɪzək/, and Isaac had a son named Jacob雅各（圣经人物）/ˈdʒeɪkəb/. Jacob didn't have just one son. He had twelve十二/twelv/! Each one of those sons had a big family家庭/ˈfæməli/ too. All together, Jacob's sons and their families made up a whole new nation国家，民族/ˈneɪʃən/. This nation was called "Israel以色列/ˈɪzriəl/." The Israelites以色列人/ˈɪzriəlaɪts/—the people of Israel—were unusual不寻常的/ʌnˈjuːʒuəl/ in the ancient world, because they were monotheists. They only worshipped崇拜/ˈwɜːʃɪpt/ one god, and they tried to obey his commands命令/kəˈmændz/.

Because God had told them to live in Canaan, the Israelites tried to stay there, even though it was a dry干旱的/draɪ/ and rocky多岩石的/ˈrɒki/ place. But then a famine饥荒/ˈfæmɪn/ came. It stopped raining下雨/ˈreɪnɪŋ/. Plants wouldn't grow生长/ɡrəʊ/. Animals died. The Israelites had no food食物/fuːd/ for their flocks羊群/flɒks/, or for themselves. They were afraid害怕的/əˈfreɪd/ that they would die, too.

Do you remember the story of Joseph约瑟（圣经人物）/ˈdʒəʊzəf/? Joseph's brothers兄弟们/ˈbrʌðərz/ sold him to be a slave奴隶/sleɪv/ in Egypt. But Joseph became a very important重要的/ɪmˈpɔːtənt/ man in Egypt. And he had plenty of grain谷物/ɡreɪn/ and water水/ˈwɔːtər/. So he invited邀请/ɪnˈvaɪtɪd/ the Israelites down into Egypt. They packed up their tents帐篷/tents/, their animals, their families, and all their belongings财产/bɪˈlɒŋɪŋz/ and traveled down to Egypt. They started to keep their flocks and grow their crops庄稼/krɒps/ on the banks of the Nile尼罗河/naɪl/.

At first the Egyptians didn't mind介意/maɪnd/ having the Israelites in their country国家/ˈkʌntri/. But then they saw the Israelite nation growing larger更大的/ˈlɑːdʒər/ and larger. Soon, the Egyptians started saying to each other, "What if these people decide to attack攻击/əˈtæk/ us? They might even take our kingdom王国/ˈkɪŋdəm/ away!" After all, that was exactly what the Hyksos喜克索斯人/ˈhɪksɒs/ had done, years before.

So the Egyptians made the Israelites into slaves奴隶/sleɪvz/. They forced强迫/fɔːst/ the Israelites to make the mud泥/mʌd/ bricks砖块/brɪks/ that they used to build their houses房屋/ˈhaʊzɪz/ and temples神庙/ˈtempəlz/. The Israelites were not allowed to carry any kind of weapons武器/ˈwepənz/. They had to work hard for no pay报酬/peɪ/.

But the Israelite nation kept growing bigger and bigger, and the Egyptians were still afraid. The book of Exodus出埃及记/ˈeksədəs/, in the Bible圣经/ˈbaɪbəl/, tells us the story of what happened next.

The pharaoh法老/ˈferəʊ/ of Egypt sat on his throne王座/θrəʊn/, a frown on his face. "What will I do about all those Israelites in my country?" he thought to himself. "There are more and more of them all the time! Soon they will take over Egypt. If only they didn't have so many children孩子们/ˈtʃɪldrən/."

And then he had an idea—a terrible, cruel残忍的/kruːəl/ idea. He called his soldiers士兵/ˈsəʊldʒərz/ to him. "Men," he said, "go out into the land of Egypt, to every Israelite home. Find out when the Israelite mothers are about to have their babies. Then kill杀死/kɪl/ every baby boy as soon as it is born!"

When the Israelites heard about this dreadful可怕的/ˈdredfəl/ command, they wept哭泣/wept/ and mourned哀悼/mɔːnd/. "God, save us!" they cried out. "Send us someone to deliver拯救/dɪˈlɪvər/ us from this wicked邪恶的/ˈwɪkɪd/ pharaoh of Egypt!"

An Israelite woman who lived near the banks of the Nile was just getting ready to have her baby when she heard the order. "Quickly!" she said to her daughter Miriam米利暗/ˈmɪriəm/. "Help me hide隐藏/haɪd/! I don't want the soldiers to see me!"

So Miriam helped her mother hide in a back room of their house. When the baby was born, it was a boy—a fine, strong boy with a very loud cry哭声/kraɪ/. "Quiet!" the mother whispered to her baby. "Don't cry so loud, or the soldiers will hear you!"

For three months, the mother and baby hid from the soldiers of the pharaoh. But the baby got older and louder. He started to giggle咯咯笑/ˈɡɪɡəl/ and coo咕咕声/kuː/. The mother knew she could not hide him forever.

So she wove a basket篮子/ˈbæskɪt/ out of reeds芦苇/riːdz/ and coated the outside with tar焦油/tɑːr/ so that it would float漂浮/fləʊt/. She wrapped the baby in a warm, soft blanket毯子/ˈblæŋkɪt/, put him into the basket, and pushed it out onto the Nile River. And she sent her daughter Miriam to stand by the riverbank河岸/ˈrɪvərbæŋk/ and watch to see what would happen next.

The baby floated down the river. He smiled at the sunshine阳光/ˈsʌnʃaɪn/ and at the bird鸟/bɜːrd/ that landed on the edge of the basket to see what was inside. Finally, the gentle rocking of the basket lulled him to sleep睡觉/sliːp/. The basket drifted closer and closer to the side of the Nile, until it caught in the weeds杂草/wiːdz/ at the water's edge.

Now, the daughter of the pharaoh liked to walk down to the Nile at the hottest part of the day, so that she could swim游泳/swɪm/. She came to the edge of the water and saw the basket. "What's in that basket?" she demanded. "Get it for me!" One of her maids女仆/meɪdz/ ran to fetch the basket. When the daughter of the pharaoh looked inside, she saw the baby boy. He opened his eyes and smiled at her. "Oh!" she cried out! "Such a beautiful baby! I'll keep him and raise him as my own!"

When Miriam heard this, she ran forward. "Lady," she said, "would you like me to find you a nurse奶妈/nɜːrs/ to take care of the baby?" "Yes," the daughter of the pharaoh said. "Bring me this woman and she can take care of my baby for me." So Miriam hurried home and got her mother. And so the baby and his mother were together again. She took care of him until he was old enough to live in the pharaoh's palace alone. The daughter of the pharaoh named him Moses摩西/ˈməʊzɪz/.

Moses grew up in the palace of the pharaoh. But when he got older, he discovered发现/dɪˈskʌvərd/ that he wasn't an Egyptian. He was an Israelite. And he saw that his people were being beaten被打/ˈbiːtən/ and mistreated被虐待/mɪsˈtriːtɪd/. So he went to see the pharaoh. "I am an Israelite," he said, "and I worship崇拜/ˈwɜːʃɪp/ the one God of the Israelites. God says: Let the Israelites go!"

But the pharaoh didn't want to lose all his slaves. So he refused拒绝/rɪˈfjuːzd/ to let the people of Israel go. When Moses saw that the pharaoh would not free the slaves, he told the pharaoh that God would send ten plagues灾难/pleɪɡz/ on Egypt. Each one of these plagues showed that the God of the Israelites was more powerful强大的/ˈpaʊərfəl/ than all the gods of the Egyptians.

The Egyptians thought that Horus荷鲁斯/ˈhɔːrəs/ was the god of the Nile, and protected all the life in the river—but the God of Moses turned the river to blood and killed all the fish. Frogs were sacred神圣的/ˈseɪkrɪd/ to the Egyptians, because they belonged to Isis伊西斯/ˈaɪsɪs/, the wife of Osiris奥西里斯/əʊˈsaɪrɪs/—but God sent so many frogs that the Egyptians found frogs in their beds, their clothes, their bathtubs, and even in their food. The Egyptians thought that Ra拉神/rɑː/ was the god of the sun, and was stronger than any other god—but the God of Moses covered up the sun and made darkness黑暗/ˈdɑːknəs/ last all day long.

Finally the pharaoh told Moses that the Israelites could leave离开/liːv/ Egypt. They packed up all their belongings and left that very night. But then the pharaoh changed改变/tʃeɪndʒd/ his mind and sent his army军队/ˈɑːrmi/ after them.

The Israelites were running as fast as they could go. But when they looked behind them, they saw dust尘土/dʌst/ rising up from the hooves蹄子/huːvz/ of the Egyptian army. "Faster!" they cried. "Faster! Or the Egyptians will take us back to Egypt, and we will be slaves again!"

Then they looked up. Ahead of them they saw the shore海岸/ʃɔːr/ of a sea—the Red Sea红海/red siː/. Water lay in front of them, as far as they could see. And the Egyptians were behind them. They couldn't go forward, and they couldn't go backward. "We are trapped被困住/træpt/!" they said. "Moses, have you led us out of Egypt only to kill us here on the shores of the Red Sea?"

Then Moses raised his staff手杖/stæf/. God parted分开/ˈpɑːrtɪd/ the waters so that the Israelites could walk through. Huge walls墙壁/wɔːlz/ of water rose up on either side of them. They could see fish, swimming in the walls. But the ground beneath them was dry干燥的/draɪ/.

They walked all the way through the Red Sea, to the other side. But behind them the Egyptians were still coming. The Egyptians drove their war chariots战车/ˈtʃæriəts/ down into the sea as well. Then Moses lifted his staff again. The water flooded back over the Egyptians and drowned淹死/draʊnd/ them all! The Israelites were finally free自由的/friː/.

This part of Israel's history is now called the Exodus出埃及/ˈeksədəs/. The story of the Exodus shows monotheism一神论/ˈmɒnəθiɪzəm/ winning out over polytheism多神论/ˈpɒliθiɪzəm/, because the one god of Israel was able to conquer征服/ˈkɒŋkər/ the many gods of Egypt. The Israelites walked from Egypt all the way back up to Canaan, where Abraham had once lived. They lived in Canaan for many years and became a powerful kingdom in their own right.

The story tells us something else, too. Egypt, which had been powerful for a long time, was once again growing weak虚弱的/wiːk/. The New Kingdom新王国/njuː ˈkɪŋdəm/ of Egypt had come close to ruling the world. But now, even a band of slaves without weapons could escape逃脱/ɪˈskeɪp/ from the clutches of the Egyptian army. Egypt was losing its strength力量/streŋθ/ once again.