出埃及記1:1-22

1:1 以色列的眾子，各帶家眷，和雅各一同來到埃及。他們的名字記在下面。
1:2 有流便、西緬、利未、猶大、
1:3 以薩迦、西布倫、便雅憫、
1:4 但、拿弗他利、迦得、亞設。
1:5 凡從雅各而生的，共有七十人。約瑟已經在埃及。
1:6 約瑟和他的弟兄，並那一代的人，都死了。
1:7 以色列人生養眾多，並且繁茂，極其強盛，滿了那地。
1:8 有不認識約瑟的新王起來，治理埃及，
1:9 對他的百姓說：「看哪，這以色列民比我們還多，又比我們強盛。
1:10 來吧，我們不如用巧計待他們，恐怕他們多起來，日後若遇甚麼爭戰的事，就連合我們的仇敵攻擊我們，離開這地去了。」
1:11 於是埃及人派督工的轄制他們，加重擔苦害他們。他們為法老建造兩座積貨城，就是比東和蘭塞。
1:12 只是越發苦害他們，他們越發多起來，越發蔓延；埃及人就因以色列人愁煩。
1:13 埃及人嚴嚴地使以色列人做工，
1:14 使他們因做苦工覺得命苦；無論是和泥，是做磚，是做田間各樣的工，在一切的工上都嚴嚴地待他們。
1:15 有希伯來的兩個收生婆，一名施弗拉，一名普阿；埃及王對她們說：
1:16 「你們為希伯來婦人收生，看她們臨盆的時候，若是男孩，就把他殺了；若是女孩，就留她存活。」
1:17 但是收生婆敬畏上帝，不照埃及王的吩咐行，竟存留男孩的性命。
1:18 埃及王召了收生婆來，說：「你們為甚麼做這事，存留男孩的性命呢？」
1:19 收生婆對法老說：「因為希伯來婦人與埃及婦人不同；希伯來婦人本是健壯的（原文是活潑的），收生婆還沒有到，她們已經生產了。」
1:20 上帝厚待收生婆。以色列人多起來，極其強盛。
1:21 收生婆因為敬畏上帝，上帝便叫她們成立家室。
1:22 法老吩咐他的眾民說：「以色列人所生的男孩，你們都要丟在河裡；一切的女孩，你們要存留她的性命。」

These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; ³ Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; ⁴ Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. ⁵ The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy^[a] in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, ⁷ but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. ¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” ¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

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    上帝賜福給以色列人，讓他們在埃及第生養眾多。也因此造成了埃及人的憂患，使埃及人害怕他們強盛之後會造成很大的威脅。於是想盡各種辦法要讓以色列人減少，但是上帝反而讓以色列人更多！

    這就像教會剛建立時，受到羅馬政府迫害，因為惡者希望透過政治的力量，讓教會消失在這個地上。然而有上帝的保守，反而讓教會越迫害越興旺，人數和信仰品質都得著提升，這也是上帝奇妙的做為！

    今日，許多人為教會憂心，害怕教會的信仰世俗化，害怕信主的人數銳減！其實這都不是我們該擔心的，我們的責任就是信靠主耶穌，人數多少事上帝自己決定，上帝會用聖靈的大能來更新教會，使教會得復興，我們不要為此擔心，就像以利亞時代，上帝也為自己預備七千人呢！