Jochebed Delivers Moses

¹ A man of the house of Levi took a daughter of Levi as his wife. ² The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

³ When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. ⁴ His sister stood far off to see what would be done to him.

Pharaoh’s Daughter Adopts Moses

⁵ Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant to get it. ⁶ She opened it and saw the child, and the baby cried. She had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The young woman went and called the child’s mother.

⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child and nursed it.

¹⁰ The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

Moses Murders an Egyptian

¹¹ In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers. ¹² He looked both ways, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³ He went out the second day, and two of the Hebrew men were fighting with each other. He said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴ He said, “Who made you a leader and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?”

Moses was afraid and said, “Surely this incident is known.”

Moses Escapes to Midian

¹⁵ Now when Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶ Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, “How is it that you have returned so early today?”

¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

²¹ Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Zipporah, his daughter to Moses. ²² She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land.”

God Hears the Cry of the Israelites

²³ In the course of time, the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

²⁴ God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ God saw the Israelites, and God was concerned about them.

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