Exodus 2
2
Moses’s Birth and Adoption
1Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. # 2:1 Ex 6:20; Nm 26:59; 1Ch 23:14 2The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, # 2:2 Or healthy she hid him for three months. # 2:2 Ac 7:20; Heb 11:23 3But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4Then his sister # 2:4 Ex 15:20; Nm 26:59 stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.
5Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it, 6opened it, and saw him, the child — and there he was, a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”
7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you? ”
8“Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother. 9Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. 10When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, # 2:10 The name Moses sounds like “drawing out” in Hb and “born” in Egyptian. “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
Moses in Midian
11Years later, # 2:11 Lit And it was in those days after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people # 2:11 Lit his brothers and observed their forced labor. # 2:11 Ex 1:11; Ac 7:23; Heb 11:24–26 He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people. 12Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand. 13The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your neighbor? ” # 2:13 Or fellow Hebrew
14“Who made you a commander and judge over us? ” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? ”
Then Moses became afraid and thought, “What I did is certainly known.”
15When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, # 2:15 Ac 7:29; Heb 11:27 and sat down by a well. # 2:15 Gn 24:11; 29:2
16Now the priest of Midian # 2:16 Ex 3:1; 1Sm 9:11 had seven daughters. They came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17Then some shepherds arrived and drove them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their flock. 18When they returned to their father Reuel, # 2:18 Jethro’s clan or last name was Reuel; Ex 3:1.,# 2:18 Ex 3:1; 4:18; Nm 10:29 he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today? ”
19They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20“So where is he? ” he asked his daughters. “Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner.”
21Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah # 2:21 Ex 4:25; 18:2 to Moses in marriage. 22She gave birth to a son whom he named Gershom, # 2:22 In Hb the name Gershom sounds like the phrase “a stranger there.” for he said, “I have been a resident alien # 2:22 Ex 18:3–4; Ac 7:29; Heb 11:13 in a foreign land.”
23After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, they cried out, # 2:23 Ex 3:7,9; Dt 26:7; Jms 5:4 and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God. 24God heard their groaning, and God remembered # 2:24 Gn 9:15; Ex 6:5; 1Ch 16:15; Ps 105:8; 106:45; 111:4 his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. # 2:24 Ps 22:23; Lk 1:33,55 25God saw the Israelites, and God knew. # 2:25 Ex 3:7; 4:31; Lk 1:25
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Exodus 2
2
Moses is born and grows up
1A man from the Levi tribe married a woman from the same tribe, 2and she later had a baby boy. He was a beautiful child, and she kept him inside for three months.#Ac 7.20; He 11.23. 3But when she could no longer keep him hidden, she made a basket out of reeds and covered it with tar. She put him in the basket and placed it in the tall grass along the edge of the River Nile. 4The baby's elder sister#2.4 elder sister: Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5About that time one of the king's#2.5 the king's: See the note at 1.11. daughters came down to take a bath in the river, while her servant women walked along the river bank. She saw the basket in the tall grass and sent one of the young women to pull it out of the water. 6When the king's daughter opened the basket, she saw the baby and felt sorry for him because he was crying. She said, “This must be one of the Hebrew babies.”
7At once the baby's elder sister came up and asked, “Do you want me to get a Hebrew woman to take care of the baby for you?”
8“Yes,” the king's daughter answered.
So the girl brought the baby's mother, 9and the king's daughter told her, “Take care of this child, and I will pay you.”
The baby's mother carried him home and took care of him. 10And when he was old enough, she took him to the king's daughter, who adopted him. She named him Moses#2.10 Moses: In Hebrew “Moses” sounds like “pull out”. because she said, “I pulled him out of the water.”#Ac 7.21.
Moses escapes from Egypt
11After Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were hard at work, and he saw an Egyptian beating one of them.#Ac 7.23-28.#He 11.24. 12Moses looked around to see if anyone was watching, then he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
13When Moses went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting. So he went to the man who had started the fight and asked, “Why are you beating up one of your own people?”
14The man answered, “Who put you in charge of us and made you our judge? Are you planning to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian?”
This frightened Moses because he was sure that people must have found out what had happened. 15When the king#2.15 the king: See the note at 1.11. heard what Moses had done, the king wanted to kill him. But Moses escaped and went to the land of Midian.#Ac 7.29; He 11.27.
One day, Moses was sitting there by a well, 16when the seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian,#2.16 Jethro, the priest of Midian: Hebrew “the priest of Midian”. But see 3.1; 4.18; 18.1,2-4 where his name is given. In the Hebrew of verse 18 he is spoken of as “Reuel”, which may have been the name of the tribe to which Jethro belonged. came up to water their father's sheep and goats. 17Some shepherds tried to chase them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their animals. 18When Jethro's daughters returned home, their father asked, “Why have you come back so early today?”
19They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds, and he even watered our sheep and goats.”
20“Where is he?” Jethro asked. “Why did you leave him out there? Invite him to eat with us.”
21Moses agreed to stay on with Jethro, who later let his daughter Zipporah marry Moses. 22And when she had a son, Moses said, “I will name him Gershom,#2.22 Gershom: In Hebrew “Gershom” sounds like “foreigner”. since I am a foreigner in this country.”
23After the death of the king of Egypt, the Israelites still complained because they were forced to be slaves. They cried out for help, 24and God heard their loud cries. He did not forget the promise he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,#Gn 15.13,14. 25and because he knew what was happening to his people, he felt sorry for them.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012