Exodus 1–20

The Vulgate is the Latin Bible associated with Jerome (about 347 to 420), who translated most of the Old Testament directly from the Hebrew while living in Bethlehem, between about 390 and 405. It became the standard Bible of the Western church for over a thousand years. Exodus is the second book of the Pentateuch; these chapters, 1 to 20, tell the story of Israel's departure from Egypt.

A new Pharaoh enslaves the Israelites and orders their male children killed. Moses is hidden in a basket by the river, found by Pharaoh's daughter and raised at court; he kills an Egyptian and flees to Midian, where he marries the daughter of the priest Jethro. From a burning bush God reveals his name and sends him back with his brother Aaron. When Pharaoh refuses to free the people, ten plagues strike Egypt: water turned to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn, from which the Israelites are spared by the blood of the Passover lamb. They cross the Red Sea on dry land while the pursuing Egyptians drown, and Moses and Miriam sing in triumph. In the wilderness they are fed with quails and manna, receive water from a rock and defeat Amalek, and Jethro advises Moses to appoint judges. At Mount Sinai God gives the Ten Commandments.

These chapters are among the most influential narratives in Western literature and art. Jerome's Latin is plain and its sentences short, often echoing Hebrew idiom, which makes it accessible to early readers.