Exodus 2
The Birth of the Deliverer
2:11 A man from the household2 of Levi married3 a woman who was a descendant of Levi.4 2:2 The woman became pregnant5 and gave birth to a son. When6 she saw that7 he was a healthy8 child, she hid him for three months. 2:3 But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket9 for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile.10 2:4 His sister stationed herself11 at a distance to find out12 what would13 happen to him.
2:5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh14 came down to wash herself15 by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river,16 and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants,17 took it,18 2:6 opened it,19 and saw the child20 – a boy,21 crying!22 – and she felt compassion23 for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
2:7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get24 a nursing woman25 for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse26 the child for you?” 2:8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes, do so.”27 So the young girl28 went and got29 the child’s mother.30 2:9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child31 and nurse him for me, and I will pay your32 wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
2:10 When the child grew older33 she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.34 She named him Moses, saying, “Because I drew him from the water.”35
The Presumption of the Deliverer
2:1136 In those days,37 when38 Moses had grown up, he went out to his people39 and observed40 their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking41 a Hebrew man, one of his own people.42 2:12 He looked this way and that43 and saw that no one was there,44 and then he attacked45 the Egyptian and concealed the body46 in the sand. 2:13 When he went out47 the next day,48 there were49 two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong,50 “Why are you attacking51 your fellow Hebrew?”52
2:14 The man53 replied, “Who made you a ruler54 and a judge over us? Are you planning55 to kill me like you killed that56 Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking,57 “Surely what I did58 has become known.” 2:15 When Pharaoh heard59 about this event,60 he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled61 from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian,62 and he settled63 by a certain well.64
2:16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw65 water66 and fill67 the troughs in order to water their father’s flock. 2:17 When some68 shepherds came and drove them away,69 Moses came up and defended them70 and then watered their flock. 2:18 So when they came home71 to their father Reuel,72 he asked, “Why have you come home so early73 today?” 2:19 They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us74 from the shepherds,75 and he actually76 drew water for us and watered the flock!” 2:20 He said77 to his daughters, “So where is he?78 Why in the world79 did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat80 a meal81 with us.”
2:21 Moses agreed82 to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.83 2:22 When she bore84 a son, Moses85 named him Gershom, for he said, “I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land.”86
The Call of the Deliverer
2:2387 During88 that long period of time89 the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites90 groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry91 because of their slave labor went up to God. 2:24 God heard their groaning,92 God remembered93 his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, 2:25 God saw94 the Israelites, and God understood….95