Baby Moses

2 Now a man from the ·family [^Lhouse] of Levi ·married a woman who was also from the family [^Ltook a daughter] of Levi. ² She ·became pregnant [conceived] and gave birth to a son. When she saw how ·wonderful the baby [good/handsome/healthy he] was, she hid him for three months. ³ But after three months she was not able to hide the baby any longer, so she got a ·basket [ark] made of ·reeds [papyrus] and covered it with ·tar so that it would float [bitumen and pitch]. She put the baby in the basket. Then she put the basket among the ·tall stalks of grass [^Lreeds] at the edge of the ·Nile River [^Lriver]. ⁴ The baby’s sister stood ·a short distance away [afar off] to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then the daughter of ·the king of Egypt [^LPharaoh] came to the river to ·take a bath [wash], and her servant girls were walking beside the river. When she saw the ·basket [ark] in the ·tall grass [reeds] she sent her slave girl to get it. ⁶ She opened the basket and saw the baby boy. He was crying, so she ·felt sorry [had pity] for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew babies.”

⁷ Then the baby’s sister asked ·the king’s [^LPharaoh’s] daughter, “Would you like me to go and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ ·The king’s [^LPharaoh’s] daughter said, “Go!” So the girl went and got the baby’s own mother [^CMoses not only survived but was raised by his own mother].

⁹ ·The king’s [^LPharaoh’s] daughter said to the woman, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took her baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child ·grew older [^Lwas weaned], the woman took him to the ·king’s [^LPharaoh’s] daughter, and she adopted the baby as her own son. The king’s daughter named him Moses [^Csounds like the Hebrew word for “draw/pull up”], because she had ·pulled [drawn] him out of the water.

Moses Tries to Help

¹¹ Moses ·grew and became a man [^Lgrew up]. One day he ·visited his people [^Lwent out among his brothers/relatives/kin] and saw ·that they were forced to work very hard [^Ltheir hard/forced labor]. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, one of Moses’ ·own people [^Lbrothers; relatives; kin]. ¹² Moses looked all around and saw that no one was watching, so he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

¹³ The ·next [^Lsecond] day Moses returned and saw two Hebrew men fighting each other. He said to the one that was in the wrong, “Why are you hitting one of your ·own people [friends; neighbors]?”

¹⁴ The man answered, “Who made you ·our ruler [^Lprince over people] and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

Moses was afraid and thought, “·Now everyone knows what I did [^LIndeed the deed is known].”

¹⁵ When ·the king [^LPharaoh] heard ·what Moses had done [^Lof the thing], he ·tried [sought] to kill him. But Moses ·ran away [fled] from ·the king [^LPharaoh] and went to live in the land of Midian [^Cprobably in the eastern Sinai peninsula or in western Arabia]. There he sat down near a well.

Moses in Midian

¹⁶ There was a priest in Midian [^CJethro; also known as Reuel] who had seven daughters. His daughters went to that well to ·get [draw] water to fill the water troughs for their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Some shepherds came and ·chased [drove] the girls away, but Moses defended the girls and watered their flock.

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

¹⁹ The girls answered, “·The shepherds chased us away, but an Egyptian defended us [^LAn Egyptian man rescued us from the hand of shepherds]. He ·got [drew] water for us and watered our flock.”

²⁰ He asked his daughters, “Where is this man? Why did you ·leave [abandon; forsake] 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 She gave birth to a son. Moses named him Gershom [^Csounds like “stranger/resident alien there” in Hebrew], because Moses was a stranger in a ·land that was not his own [foreign land].

²³ After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The people of Israel groaned, because ·they were forced to work very hard [of their work/slavery]. ·When they cried for help, God heard them [^LTheir plea for help rose up to God because of their work/slavery]. ²⁴ God heard their ·cries [groaning], and he remembered ·the agreement he had made [his covenant] with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [Gen. 12:1–3]. ²⁵ God saw the ·troubles of the people [^Lsons; children] of Israel, and he ·was concerned about [took note of] them.