Exodus 2

New American Standard Bible

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man from ^(A)the house of Levi went and ^[a]married a daughter of Levi. ² And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw ^[b]that he was ^[c](B)beautiful, she hid him for three months. ³ But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a ^(C)papyrus ^[d]basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the ^(D)reeds by the bank of the Nile. ^4 (E)And his sister stood at a distance to ^[e]find out what would ^[f]happen to him.

⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down ^(F)to bathe at the Nile, with her female attendants walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the ^[g]basket among the reeds and sent her slave woman, and she brought it to her. ⁶ When she opened it, she ^[h]saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a woman for you who is nursing from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?” ⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and ^(G)he became her son. And she named him ^[i]Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹ Now it came about in those days, ^(H)when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his ^[j]fellow Hebrews and looked at their ^[k](I)hard labors; and ^(J)he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his ^[l]fellow Hebrews. ¹² So he ^[m]looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one around, he ^(K)struck and killed the Egyptian, and hid ^[n]his body in the sand. ¹³ Now he went out ^(L)the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were ^[o]fighting with each other; and he said to the ^[p]offender, “Why are you striking your companion?” ¹⁴ But he said, “^(M)Who made you a ^[q]ruler and a judge over us? Do you ^[r]intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known!”

Moses Escapes to Midian

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But ^(N)Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and ^[s]settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down ^(O)by a well.

¹⁶ Now ^(P)the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and ^(Q)they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but ^(R)Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came to their father ^(S)Reuel, he said, “Why have you come back so soon today?” ¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian saved us from ^[t]the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” ²⁰ So he said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him ^[u]to have something to eat.” ²¹ And ^(T)Moses was willing to live with the man. And he gave his daughter ^(U)Zipporah to Moses. ²² Then she gave birth to ^(V)a son, and he named him ^[v]Gershom, for he said, “I have been ^(W)a stranger in a foreign land.”

²³ Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel ^(X)groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and ^(Y)their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God. ²⁴ So ^(Z)God heard their groaning; and God remembered ^(AA)His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ And ^(AB)God saw the sons of Israel, and God ^[w]took notice of them.