Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David wrote this psalm.

The Lord's great King^[a]

²² Then Pharaoh spoke to all the Egyptian people. He said, ‘When an Israelite boy is born, you must throw him in the river Nile. But you can let the baby girls live.’

The birth of Moses

2 At this time, there was an Israelite man who belonged to the family of Levi. He married a woman who was also a descendant of Levi. ² The woman became pregnant and she gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a beautiful boy. So she hid him for three months. ³ Then she could not continue to hide him. So she took a basket that was made from river grass. She painted the basket with tar, to keep the water out of it. Then she put her baby in the basket. She put the basket among the reeds at the edge of the river.^[a]

⁴ The baby's sister stood not very far away. She wanted to see what would happen to the baby.

⁵ Soon, Pharaoh's daughter came to wash herself in the river. Her servant girls were walking near the edge of the river. Pharaoh's daughter saw the basket among the river grasses. So she sent one of her servant girls to fetch it for her. ⁶ When she opened the basket, she saw the baby boy. He was crying. She was sorry for him and she said, ‘This is one of the Israelite children.’

⁷ Then the baby's sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, ‘Do you want me to fetch one of the Israelite mothers? She can take care of this baby and she can feed him for you.’ ⁸ Pharaoh's daughter said, ‘Yes, please do that.’

So the girl went and she fetched the baby's own mother. ⁹ Pharaoh's daughter said to the baby's mother, ‘Please take this baby to your house. You can take care of him for me. I will pay you to do this.’ So the woman took the baby home and she took care of him.

¹⁰ When the baby was older, his mother took him to Pharaoh's daughter. He now became her son. She gave him the name ‘Moses’. She said, ‘I will call him Moses because I pulled him out of the water.’^[b]

²³ Moses' parents believed God. When Moses was born, they hid him for three months. They saw that he was a very special child. As a result of their faith, they did not obey Egypt's king. They were not afraid to do that.^[a]

²⁴ Moses himself also believed God. When he became a man, he refused to be called the son of the king's daughter. ²⁵ Instead, Moses chose to join with God's people. He chose to receive trouble and pain together with them. He did not want to live in the king's house and do wrong things. He would only be happy for a short time there.^{[b] 26} Moses could have been very rich in Egypt. But instead, he let people insult him. He chose to receive trouble because of God's special Messiah. He thought that was worth more than if he had a lot of money. He thought carefully about what God would give him at a future time.^[c]