²¹ Moses accepted the invitation, and he settled there with him. In time, Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife.

⁵ Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,

³⁸ “For twenty years I have been with you, caring for your flocks. In all that time your sheep and goats never miscarried. In all those years I never used a single ram of yours for food. ³⁹ If any were attacked and killed by wild animals, I never showed you the carcass and asked you to reduce the count of your flock. No, I took the loss myself! You made me pay for every stolen animal, whether it was taken in broad daylight or in the dark of night.

⁴⁰ “I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day and through cold and sleepless nights.

¹⁰ And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field.

²⁵ He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.

⁶ Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.

¹¹ Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹² I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

² Earlier, Moses had sent his wife, Zipporah, and his two sons back to Jethro, who had taken them in. ³ (Moses’ first son was named Gershom,^[a] for Moses had said when the boy was born, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.” ⁴ His second son was named Eliezer,^[b] for Moses had said, “The God of my ancestors was my helper; he rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh.”) ⁵ Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, now came to visit Moses in the wilderness. He brought Moses’ wife and two sons with him, and they arrived while Moses and the people were camped near the mountain of God. ⁶ Jethro had sent a message to Moses, saying, “I, Jethro, your father-in-law, am coming to see you with your wife and your two sons.”

²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God.

²¹ And the Lord told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go. ²² Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. ²³ I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’”

²⁴ On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the Lord confronted him and was about to kill him. ²⁵ But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet^[a] with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

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.”