Shemot, Shemoth, or Shemos (, 'names'; second and incipit word of the parashah) is the thirteenth weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 1:1–6:1. The parashah tells of the Israelites' affliction in Egypt, the hiding and rescuing of the infant Moses, Moses in Midian, the calling of Moses by God, circumcision on the way, meeting the elders, and Moses before Pharaoh.
It is made up of 6,762 Hebrew letters, 1,763 Hebrew words, 124 verses, and 215 lines in a Torah scroll. Jews read it on the thirteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in late December or January.
Readings In traditional weekly Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot. In the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, parashat Shemot has six "open portion" (, petuha) divisions (roughly equivalent to paragraphs, often abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (pe)). Parashat Shemot has two further subdivisions, called "closed portion" (, setuma) divisions (abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (samekh)) within the open portion divisions. The first open portion divides the first reading. The second open portion covers the balance of the first and part of the second readings. The third open portion covers the balance of the second and part of the third readings. The fourth open portion covers the balance of the third and all of the fourth and fifth readings. The fifth open portion divides the sixth reading. And the sixth open portion covers the balance of the sixth and all of the seventh readings. Closed portion divisions separate the third and fourth readings and conclude the seventh reading.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2008), pages 2–30.
First reading—Exodus 1:1–17 In the first reading, seventy descendants of Jacob descended to Egypt and the Israelites were fruitful and filled the land.. The first open portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 3.
Joseph and all of his generation had died, and a new Pharaoh rose to the throne who did not know Joseph. Pharaoh told his people that the Israelites had become too numerous and required shrewd dealing, lest they multiply and join Egypt's enemies. The Egyptians thus set taskmasters over the Israelites to afflict them with burdens, and the Israelites built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses. The more that the Egyptians afflicted them, the more the Israelites multiplied. The Egyptians embittered the Israelites' lives with hard service in brick and mortar and in the field. Pharaoh told Shiphrah and Puah, midwives to the Israelites, that when they delivered Hebrew women, they were to kill the sons, but let the daughters live. However, the midwives feared Yahweh, and disobeyed Pharaoh, saving the baby boys. The first reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 5.
Second reading—Exodus 1:18–2:10 In the second reading, Pharaoh asked the midwives why they had saved the boys, and the midwives told Pharaoh that the Israelite women were more vigorous than the Egyptian women and delivered before a midwife could get to them. God rewarded the midwives because they feared God, and God made them houses. The Israelites continued to multiply, and Pharaoh charged all his people to cast every newborn boy into the Nile, leaving the girls alive. The second open portion ends here with the end of chapter 1.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 6.
As the reading continues with chapter 2, a Levite couple had a baby boy, and the woman hid him for three months. When she could no longer hide him, she made an ark of bulrushes, daubed it with slime and pitch, put the boy inside, and laid it in the river. As his sister watched, Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe in the river, saw the ark, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. She opened it, saw the crying boy, and had compassion on him, recognizing that he was one of the Hebrew children. His sister asked Pharaoh's daughter whether she should call a wet nurse from the Israelite women, and Pharaoh's daughter agreed. The girl called the child's mother, and Pharaoh's daughter hired her to care for the child. When the child grew, his mother brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her own son, calling him Moses because she had drawn him out of the water. The second reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 8.
Third reading—Exodus 2:11–25 In the third reading, when Moses grew up, he went to his brethren and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking an Israelite, he looked this way and that, and when he saw no one, he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, he came upon two Hebrew men fighting, and he asked the wrongdoer why he struck his fellow. The man asked Moses who had made him king, asking him whether he intended to kill him as he did the Egyptian, so Moses realized that his deed was known. When Pharaoh heard, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled to Midian, where he sat down by a well. The priest of Midian's seven daughters had come to water their father's flock, but shepherds drove them away. Moses stood up and helped the daughters, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he asked how they were able to come home so early, and they explained how an Egyptian had delivered them from the shepherds, and had also drawn water for the flock. Reuel then asked his daughters why they had left the man there, and told them to call him back to join them for a meal. Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to marry. Moses and Zipporah had a baby boy, whom Moses called Gershom, saying that he had been a stranger in a strange land. The third open portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 11.
In the continuation of the reading, the Pharaoh died, and the Israelites groaned under their bondage and cried to God, and God heard them and remembered God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The third reading and a closed portion end here with the end of chapter 2.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 12.
Fourth reading—Exodus 3:1–15
In the fourth reading, in chapter 3, when Moses was keeping his father-in-law Jethro's flock at the mountain of God, Horeb (another name for the Biblical Mount Sinai), the angel of God appeared to him in a flame in the midst of a burning bush. God called to Moses from the bush, and Moses answered: "Here I am.". God told Moses not to draw near, and to take off his shoes, for the place on which he stood was holy ground.. God identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reported having seen the Israelites' affliction and heard their cry, and promised to deliver them from Egypt to Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey.. God told Moses that God was sending Moses to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, but Moses asked who he was that he should do so.. God told Moses that God would be with him, and after he brought them out of Egypt, he would serve God on that mountain.. Moses asked God whom he should say sent him to the Israelites, and God said "I Will Be What I Will Be" (, Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh), and told Moses to tell the Israelites that "I Will Be" (, Ehyeh) sent him.. God told Moses to tell the Israelites that the Lord (, YHVH), the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had sent him, and this would be God's Name forever.. The fourth reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 17.
Fifth reading—Exodus 3:16–4:17 In the fifth reading, God directed Moses to tell Israel's elders what God had promised, and predicted that they would heed Moses and go with him to tell Pharaoh that God had met with them and request that Pharaoh allow them to go three days' journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to God.. God knew that Pharaoh would not let them go unless forced by a mighty hand, so God would strike Egypt with wonders, and then Pharaoh would let them go.. God would make the Egyptians view the Israelites favorably, so that the Israelites would not leave empty handed, but every woman would ask her neighbor for jewels and clothing and the Israelites would strip the Egyptians.. Moses predicted that they would not believe him, so God told him to cast his rod on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it.. God told Moses to take it by the tail, he did so, and it became a rod again.. God explained that this was so that they might believe that God had appeared to Moses.. Then God told Moses to put his hand into his bosom, he did, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.. God told him to put his hand back into his bosom, he did, and when he took it out, it had returned to normal.. God predicted that if they would not heed the first sign, then they would believe the second sign, and if they would not believe those two signs, then Moses was to take water from the river and pour it on the land, and the water would become blood.. Moses protested that he was not a man of words but was slow of speech, but God asked him who had made man's mouth, so Moses should go, and God would teach him what to say.. Moses pleaded with God to send someone else, and God became angry with Moses.. God said that Moses' well-spoken brother Aaron was coming to meet him, Moses would tell him the words that God would teach them, he would be Moses' spokesman, and Moses would be like God to him.. And God told Moses to take his staff with him to perform signs.. The fifth reading and the fourth open portion end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 23.
Sixth reading—Exodus 4:18–31 In the sixth reading, Moses returned to Jethro and asked him to let him return to Egypt, and Jethro bade him to go in peace.. God told Moses that he could return, for all the men who sought to kill him were dead.. Moses took his wife and sons and the rod of God and returned to Egypt.. God told Moses to be sure to perform for Pharaoh all the wonders that God had put in his hand, but God would harden his heart, and he would not let the people go.. And Moses was to tell Pharaoh that Israel was God's firstborn son, and Pharaoh was to let God's son go to serve God, and should he refuse, God would kill Pharaoh's firstborn son.. At the lodging-place along the way, God sought to kill him.. Then Zipporah took a flint and circumcised her son, and touched his legs with it, saying that he was a bridegroom of blood to her, so God let him alone.. The fifth open portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 25.
As the reading continues, God told Aaron to go to the wilderness to meet Moses, and he went, met him at the mountain of God, and kissed him.. Moses told him all that God had said, and they gathered the Israelite elders and Aaron told them what God had said and performed the signs.. The people believed, and when they heard that God had remembered them and seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshipped.. The sixth reading ends here with the end of chapter 4.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus, page 26.
Seventh reading—Exodus 5:1–6:1