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.
Footnotes
- Exodus 2:1 Lit took
- Exodus 2:2 Lit him that
- Exodus 2:2 Lit good
- Exodus 2:3 Or chest
- Exodus 2:4 Lit know
- Exodus 2:4 Lit be done
- Exodus 2:5 Or chest
- Exodus 2:6 Heb saw it, the child
- Exodus 2:10 Heb Mosheh, from a verb meaning to draw out
- Exodus 2:11 Lit brothers
- Exodus 2:11 Lit burdens
- Exodus 2:11 Lit brothers
- Exodus 2:12 Lit turned
- Exodus 2:12 Lit him
- Exodus 2:13 Or quarreling
- Exodus 2:13 Or the guilty one
- Exodus 2:14 Lit man, a ruler
- Exodus 2:14 Lit say
- Exodus 2:15 Lit dwelt
- Exodus 2:19 Lit the hand of the
- Exodus 2:20 Lit that he may eat bread
- Exodus 2:22 Cf. Heb ger sham, a stranger there
- Exodus 2:25 Lit knew them
Exodus 2
Easy-to-Read Version
Baby Moses
2 There was a man from the family of Levi who decided to marry a woman from the tribe of Levi.[a] 2 She became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. The mother saw how beautiful the baby was and hid him for three months. 3 She hid him for as long as she could. After three months she made a basket and covered it with tar so that it would float. Then she put the baby in the basket and put the basket in the river in the tall grass. 4 The baby’s sister stayed and watched to see what would happen to the baby.
5 Just then, Pharaoh’s daughter went to the river to bathe. She saw the basket in the tall grass. Her servants were walking beside the river, so she told one of them to go get the basket. 6 The king’s daughter opened the basket and saw a baby boy. The baby was crying and she felt sorry for him. Then she noticed that it was one of the Hebrew[b] babies.
7 The baby’s sister was still hiding. She stood and asked the king’s daughter, “Do you want me to go find a Hebrew woman who can nurse the baby and help you care for it?”
8 The king’s daughter said, “Yes, please.”
So the girl went and brought the baby’s own mother.
9 The king’s daughter said to the mother, “Take this baby and feed him for me. I’ll pay you to take care of him.”
So the woman took her baby and cared for him. 10 The baby grew, and after some time, the woman gave the baby to the king’s daughter. The king’s daughter accepted the baby as her own son. She named him Moses[c] because she had pulled him from the water.
Moses Helps His People
11 Moses grew and became a man. He saw that his own people, the Hebrews, were forced to work very hard. One day he saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man. 12 Moses looked around and saw that no one was watching, so he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.
13 The next day Moses saw two Hebrew men fighting each other. He saw that one man was wrong and said to him, “Why are you hurting your neighbor?”
14 The man answered, “Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge? Tell me, will you kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday[d]?”
Then Moses was afraid. He thought to himself, “Now everyone knows what I did.”
15 Pharaoh heard about what Moses did, so he decided to kill him. But Moses ran away from Pharaoh and went to the land of Midian.
Moses in Midian
Moses stopped near a well in Midian. 16 There was a priest there who had seven daughters. These girls came to that well to get water for their father’s sheep. They were trying to fill the water trough with water. 17 But there were some shepherds there who chased the girls away and would not let them get water. So Moses helped the girls and gave water to their animals.
18 Then they went back to their father, Reuel.[e] He asked them, “Why have you come home early today?”
19 The girls answered, “The shepherds chased us away, but an Egyptian rescued us. He got water for us and gave it to our animals.”
20 So Reuel said to his daughters, “Where is this man? Why did you leave him? Go invite him to eat with us.”
21 Moses was happy to stay with that man. Reuel let Moses marry his daughter, Zipporah. 22 Zipporah became pregnant and had a son. Moses named him Gershom[f] because Moses was a stranger in a land that was not his own.
God Decides to Help Israel
23 A long time passed and that king of Egypt died. But the Israelites were still forced to work very hard. They cried for help, and God heard them. 24 God heard their painful cries and remembered the agreement he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the troubles of the Israelites, and he knew that he would soon help them.
Footnotes
- Exodus 2:1 woman … Levi Literally, “the daughter of Levi.” See Ex. 6:20; Num. 26:59.
- Exodus 2:6 Hebrew Or “Israelite.” Also in verses 7, 11, 13.
- Exodus 2:10 Moses This name is like a Hebrew word meaning “to pull or draw out.”
- Exodus 2:14 yesterday This word is from the ancient Greek version.
- Exodus 2:18 Reuel He is also called Jethro.
- Exodus 2:22 Gershom This name is like the Hebrew words meaning “a stranger there.”
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