The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man of the tribe of Levi^(A) married a Levite woman,^{(B) 2} and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine^(C) child, she hid him for three months.^{(D) 3} But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus^(E) basket^[a] for him and coated it with tar and pitch.^(F) Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds^(G) along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister^(H) stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.^(I) She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. ⁶ She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷ Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named^(J) him Moses,^[b] saying, “I drew^(K) him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people^(L) were and watched them at their hard labor.^(M) He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”^(N)

¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?^(O) Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill^(P) Moses, but Moses fled^(Q) from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,^(R) where he sat down by a well.

Psalm 69^[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David.

Woe on Unrepentant Towns^(A)

²⁰ Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!^(B) For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon,^(C) they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.^{(D) 22} But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.^{(E) 23} And you, Capernaum,^(F) will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.^[a](G) For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”^(H)