Exode 1

¹ These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family:

² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

⁴ Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

⁵ The total number of Jacob’s descendants was seventy; Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died.

⁷ But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them.

Note · Exode 1.1–7

Des noms avant une population

La liste rattache le peuple aux personnes de la Genèse. Avant d’être désignés comme une masse inquiétante, les descendants d’Israël possèdent une histoire et des liens. La fécondité du groupe répond aux promesses anciennes sans faire disparaître la mémoire des individus qui l’ont précédée.

⁸ A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

⁹ He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are.

¹⁰ Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”

¹¹ So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

¹² But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

¹³ They worked the Israelites ruthlessly

¹⁴ and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.

Note · Exode 1.8–14

Une peur fabriquée pour légitimer l’exploitation

Le roi attribue au groupe un risque de trahison avant qu’un acte hostile soit raconté. Le travail imposé devient un instrument de contrôle. Le passage donne à voir le mécanisme d’une oppression : l’accusation collective précède et justifie le traitement dégradant des personnes.

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives — the first whose name was Shiphrah and the second whose name was Puah —

¹⁶ “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.”

¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

¹⁸ So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”

²⁰ So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous.

²¹ Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

Note · Exode 1.15–21

La crainte de Dieu limite l’obéissance au roi

Les sages-femmes refusent d’exécuter l’ordre meurtrier. Leur action rappelle que l’autorité politique ne définit pas seule le bien. Le récit loue leur protection de la vie ; il ne réduit pas la fidélité religieuse à une soumission sans discernement devant celui qui commande.

²² Pharaoh then commanded all his people: “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.”

Note · Exode 1.22

La violence devient une affaire publique

Pharaon étend l’ordre de mort à son peuple. Le danger n’est plus seulement celui d’une décision secrète confiée à deux professionnelles. La scène prépare la naissance de Moïse : sa survie dépendra de personnes qui ne laisseront pas cet ordre déterminer tous leurs gestes.