The Widow’s Offering

21 While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. ² Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.^[a]

³ “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. ⁴ For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

³² I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken place. ³³ Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

³⁴ “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, ³⁵ like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. ³⁶ Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.”

The Birth of Moses

2 About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. ² The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. ³ But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. ⁴ The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. ⁶ When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said.

⁷ Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked.

⁸ “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother.

⁹ “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him.

¹⁰ Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses,^[a] for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”