¹⁵ When the king heard what Moses had done, he tried to kill him. But Moses ran away from the king and went to live in the land of Midian. There he sat down near a well.

Moses in Midian

¹⁶ There was a priest in Midian who had seven daughters. His daughters went to that well to get water to fill the water troughs for their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Some shepherds came and chased the girls away, but Moses defended the girls and watered their flock.

¹⁸ When they went back to their father Reuel,^[a] he asked them, “Why have you come home early today?”

¹⁹ The girls answered, “The shepherds chased us away, but an Egyptian defended us. He got water for us and watered our flock.”

²⁰ He asked his daughters, “Where is this man? Why did you leave him? Invite him to eat with us.”

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with Jethro, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses to be his wife. ²² Zipporah gave birth to a son. Moses named him Gershom,^[b] because Moses was a stranger in a land that was not his own.

The Burning Bush

3 One day Moses was taking care of Jethro’s flock. (Jethro was the priest of Midian and also Moses’ father-in-law.) When Moses led the flock to the west side of the desert, he came to Sinai, the mountain of God.

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, “Let me go back to my people in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive.”

Jethro said to Moses, “Go! I wish you well.”

²⁹ Hobab was the son of Reuel the Midianite,^[a] who was Moses’ father-in-law. Moses said to Hobab, “We are moving to the land the Lord promised to give us. Come with us and we will be good to you, because the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”