YU are spells Ur. It isnef the shrtest names I knw. It is the namef a little place in that partf Babylnia called Chaldea. In this place-abut nineteen hundred years B.C.-there lived a man named Abraham. Abraham had a very large family and thugh he had n mney， he was rich. He had large herdsf sheep and gats， and these were the chief riches in thse days. Nw Abraham believed inne Gd， as we d， while his neighbrs， the Babylnians， wrshiped many gds and the heavenly bdies， such as the sun， mn， and stars， as I have just said. Abraham did nt agree with his neighbrs fr this reasn； and his neighbrs didn"t agree with him， either， fr they thught his ideas were peculiarr even crazy. S， abut nineteen hundred years befre Christ， Abraham tk his large family， his flcks， and his herds and mved t a land called Canaan， far away near the Mediterranean Sea.
Abraham lived t be a veryld man， and he had a large family.nef his grandsns named Jacb， wh was als knwn by the namef Israel， had a sn Jseph. Yu prbably remember the Bible stryf Jacb"s favrite sn Jseph with the catf many clrs. Jseph"s brthers were jealusf him， as children and even dgs are apt t be jealusf anyne wh is liked better than they are. S they put Jseph int a well and then sld him as a slave t sme Egyptians wh were passing by. Then they tld their father Jacb that Jseph had been killed by wild animals. The Egyptians tk Jseph t far-ff Egypt-far away frm Canaan.
Abraham leaving Ur， 1900 B.C. ( 公元前 1900 年亚伯拉罕离开吾珥 )As I tld yu， it was very difficult fr anyne t wrk his way uputf his class t a higher class. Nevertheless， Jseph was a slave in Egypt， and he was s bright that at last he becamenef the rulers in Egypt.
At that time when he was ruler， there came a famine in Canaan and there wasn fd. In Egypt， hwever， there was plentyf fd stred up. S Jseph"s wicked brthers went dwn t Egypt t beg the rulers fr bread. They prbably thught by that time their brther was dead. They did nt knw that he had becme such a great man and that he was nw the ruler frm whm they were begging fd. Yu can imagine hw surprised they were and hw ashamed they must have felt when they fundut that the great ruler was theirwn brther， whm they had planned t kill and then had sld as a slave.
Jseph might have let his brthers starve t deathr put them in prisn，r sent them back t Canaan withut anything， if he had wanted t revenge himselfn them. Insteadf ding anyf these things， he gave them ntnly all the fd they wanted and mre t take back hme， but made them rich presents besides. Then he tld them t g back and get the restf his family and return with them t Egypt， and he prmised t give them a piecef land called Gshen where there wuld be n famines and they might live happily. They did as they were tld， and Israel and his sns and all their families came dwn and settled in Gshen abut 1700 B.C. They were called Israelites， which meansf curse the childrenf Israel. These are the peple we nw call the Jews.
After Jseph， wh wasf curse an Israelite himself， died， the kingsr Pharahsf Egypt did nt like these freign peple and treated them very badly， asther peples haveften treated the Jews badly ever since. Thugh the Jews and their children and children"s children lived in Egypt fr abut fur hundred years， they were enslaved by the Egyptians.
Nw abut fur hundred years frm the time the Jews first came int Egypt-400 frm 1700 is 1300 B.C.-there was a rulerf Egypt called Rameses the Great.
Rameses s feared the grwing numberf Jews that finally he gaverders thave every Jewish by baby killed. In this way he thught t cntrl these peple.ne little Jewish by named Mses， hwever， was saved， and when he grew up he became the greatest leaderf his peple. Mses wanted t get the Jewsutf this hstile cuntry where the peple wrshiped false gds. At last he led all his pepleutf Egypt acrss the Red Sea. This was called the Exdus， and it tk place abut 1300 B.C.
After the Jews had left Egypt， they first stpped at the ftf a muntain called Munt Sinai， while Mses went up t theRameses"s mummy ( 拉美西斯的木乃伊 )tp where he culd be by himself and learnwhat Gd wanted him and the Jews t d. Mses spent frty days prayingn tpf the muntain. When he came dwn frm the muntaintp， he brught with him the Ten Cmmandments， the same Ten Cmmandments yu may have learned in Sunday schl. But Mses had been gne s lng that when he came back again t his peple， he fund them wrshiping a glden calf as the Egyptians had dne. They had lived in Egypt until they had cme t think it was all right t wrship idls.
Mses was very angry. It was high time， he thught， that they shuld get ridf the bad influencef theirld Egyptian neighbrs. At last he succeeded in making them wrship Gd again and gave them the Ten Cmmandments fr their rulef life. S Mses is called a lawgiver and the first teacherf the Jewish religin. The Jews wandered frm place t place fr a great many years befre Mses died. Then Jshua， their new leader， led them int Canaan.
The Jews had n kings. They were ruled by men called judges， but the judges lived very simply， just like everyne else and nt like kings in palaces with servants and fine rbes and rich jewels. But the Jews thught it wuld be better t have a real king like their neighbrs had.
At last a judge wh was named Samuel said they shuld have a king， and Saul was chsen. Then Samuel puredlive-ilver Saul"s head. T us this seems a strange thing t d， but it tk the placef putting a crwnn his head and was a sign that he was t beking. Samuel， therefre， was the lastnef their judges， and Saul was their first king.
Allther natins at that time believed as the Egyptians and Chaldeans did， in many different gds. The Jews alne believed inne Gd and lived by laws they believed Gd had given them. They had a hly bk that cntained these laws and recrded their early histry. This bk is als knwn as theld Testament and has been made a partf the Christian Bible. Manyld Testament stries als appear in the Kran， the Muslims" hly bk.
This is the stryf the Jews，
wh gave us theld Testament Rameses the Great ( 拉美西斯大帝 )and the Ten Cmmandments， and here is the way they wandered： Frm Ur t Canaan-1900 B.C.
Frm Canaan t Egypt-1700 B.C.
Frm Egypt back t Canaan-1300 B.C.. Yu can see that they finally settleddwn in Canaan， and then they called that land their hme.
【中文阅读】
英语中，"你"和"吾珥"的读音相同，吾珥是我所知道的最简短的英语名字之 一，由两个字母 u 和 r 组成，u 和 r 在英语中读作"是你"。巴比伦王国有个地区叫 迦勒底，吾珥就是那么一个小地方的名字。大约在公元前 1900 年，吾珥住着一个叫 亚伯拉罕的人。他有一个大家庭，尽管他没有钱，但是却很富有。他有大群大群的 绵羊和山羊，在当时家畜就是最主要的财富。亚伯拉罕只信仰一个神，和我们一样， 而他的邻居巴比伦人却信奉很多的神和太阳、月亮、星星这样的天体，这一点我在 前面说过了。亚伯拉罕不认同巴比伦人，巴比伦人与他也不相投，认为他的想法古 怪，甚至疯狂。因此，公元前 1900 年左右，亚伯拉罕带着他一大家子人还有他的羊 群、牲畜迁移到一个很远的地方，那里靠近地中海，叫迦南。
亚伯拉罕活了很大岁数，有一个人口众多的大家庭。他有一个孙子叫雅各，雅 各还有一个名字，广为人知，叫"以色列"。雅各有个儿子叫约瑟。你可能还记得圣 经中写到雅各的爱子约瑟得到父亲所赠的"彩衣"而引起兄弟们嫉妒的事。约瑟的兄 弟们嫉妒他，就像小孩们会嫉妒那些比他们更讨人喜欢的孩子，狗也会嫉妒那些比 它们更讨人喜欢的狗一样。所以，他们先是把他丢进一口井里，后来又把他卖给过 路的埃及人做奴隶。然后，他们对父亲雅各说，约瑟被野兽吃掉了。埃及人将约瑟 带到了远方的埃及--与迦南相距遥远。
我在前面说过，埃及的等级制度十分严格，任何人想从下等阶级升到上等阶级 非常难。然而，约瑟在埃及虽是个奴隶，但是他太出类拔萃了，最终进入了埃及的 统治阶层。
在雅各执政期间，迦南发生了大饥荒，没有粮食。可是，埃及却有充足的粮食 储备。所以，约瑟那几个缺德的兄弟南下到了埃及，乞求当政者施舍一点食物。他 们大概认为他们的那个兄弟早就死了，却不知他已是如此显赫的大人物了，正是他 们向之乞讨的那个当政者。你可以想象，当他们发现那个高高在上、大权在握之人 正是他们设计杀害、后又卖为奴隶的兄弟时，他们是多么的惊讶和羞愧啊！
如果约瑟想报复他的兄弟们，他完全可以让他们饿死算了，或者将他们投入监 狱，或者打发他们空手回迦南。但是，他并没有那样做，反而给了他们自身所需的 食物并另外带回去粮食，不仅如此还送给他们丰厚的礼物。然后，他让他们回去， 把家里所有的人都带到埃及来，他还许诺给他们一块叫歌珊地的领地，那儿不会有 饥荒，以后可以过上好日子。他们照他说的做了，公元前 1700 年左右，以色列和 他的众多儿孙及他们的家人南下来到歌珊，在那儿定居下来。人们叫他们"以色列人"，意思当然是以色列的子孙。以色列人也就是我们现在所说的犹太人。 不用说约瑟本人就是以色列人，他死后，埃及的国王们，也就是法老们，不喜欢这些外族人，于是就虐待他们，从那以后其他民族的人也经常以同样的态度虐待 犹太人。尽管犹太人和他们的子孙及子孙的子孙在埃及生活了将近四百年，却一直 受埃及人的奴役。
从犹太人最初来到埃及大约 400 年后--从公元前 1700 年起过了 400 年，也就是公元前 1300 年--那时埃及的统治者是拉美西斯大帝。 犹太人人口不断增加让拉美西斯感到恐惧，最终他下令杀死所有犹太男婴。他觉得这样做就可以控制住犹太人。可是，有个叫摩西的犹太小男孩却获救了，他长 大后成了犹太人最伟大的领袖。摩西想带领他的族人离开这个仇视犹太人的国家， 因为埃及人信仰虚伪的多神教，最后他带领着他们越过红海离开了埃及。这件事记 载在圣经里，叫做《出埃及记》，发生在公元前 1300 年左右。
犹太人离开埃及后，他们首先来到一座叫西奈山的山脚下，摩西登上山顶，独自一人在那里接受上帝的启示，懂得了他和犹太人今后如何行为规范。摩西在山顶 上祈祷了四十天，然后带着上帝授予的十条戒律下了山。这"十诫"你们在主日学 校里可能学过。可是，他离开的时间太长了，当他下山回到他的族人中时，他发现 他们竟然像埃及人那样在敬奉一只金牛。原来他们在埃及住久了，潜移默化中地也 慢慢觉得信仰多神是对的。
摩西非常生气，他想现在是他们摆脱埃及人坏影响的时候了。最后，他终于使 他们又重新信仰上帝，并把十诫传给他们作为他们生活的规范。因此，摩西被称为 "律法制定人"和犹太教的第一位导师。摩西死前，犹太人多年来四处漂泊。摩西死 后，他们的新领袖约书亚带领他们来到了迦南。
犹太人没有国王，管理他们的人叫"士师"，但是这些士师生活很简朴，和其他 人没有区别，而不像国王们那样住在满是奴仆的宫殿里，穿着精美的长袍，戴着贵 重的珠宝。但是，犹太人认为还是像他们的邻邦那样有一位真正的国王可能会更好。 最后，有个叫撒母耳的士师说，他们应该有一位国王，随后扫罗被选中成为国 王。此时，撒母耳将橄榄油泼到扫罗头上，我们会觉得这样做很奇怪，但是对他们 来说这样做相当于给他戴上王冠，象征他将成为国王。因此，撒母耳就是犹太人最后一个士师，而扫罗是第一位犹太国王。 当时别的民族都和埃及人或迦勒底人一样，信仰多神教，只有犹太人信仰一个上帝，相信上帝授予的诫命，并严格遵守。他们有一本圣书，里面写有这些诫命并 记载他们早期的历史。这本书也叫旧约，现在已经成为基督教圣经的一部分。旧约 中的很多故事也出现在《古兰经》中，《古兰经》是穆斯林的圣书。
这就是犹太人的故事，他们给我们带来了旧约和十诫，以下是他们漂泊的历程： 从吾珥到迦南--公元前 1900 年从迦南到埃及--公元前 1700 年从埃及重返迦南--公元前 1300 年。你可以看出来他们最终定居在迦南，后来 他们把这块土地称作自己的家园。
