Exodus 2

A man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket for him and coated it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him. Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile, while her young women walked along the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to get it. She opened it and saw the child, a boy crying. She had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.” His sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a Hebrew wet nurse to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, for she said, “I drew him out of the water.” In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. He went out the next day and saw two Hebrews fighting. He said to the man in the wrong, “Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?” He said, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter is known.” When Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian. He sat down by a well. The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and rescued them and watered their flock. When they came to their father Reuel, he said, “Why have you returned so soon today?” They said, “An Egyptian rescued us from the hand of the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat bread.” Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.” During those many days, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their slavery and cried out. Their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and God knew.

Rights and attribution