Exodus 2 (New American Standard)

The Birth of Moses

1 Now a man from ¹the house of Levi went and ^amarried a daughter of Levi. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son ; and when she saw ^bthat he was ^c2beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a ^d3wicker ^ebasket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the ⁴reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 ⁵His sister stood at a distance to ^ffind out what would ^ghappen to him. 5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down ⁶to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile ; and she saw the ^hbasket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her. 6 When she opened it, she ⁱsaw the child, and behold, the ^jboy 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 ^ka nurse for you from the Hebrew women 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 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and ⁷he became her son. And she named him ^lMoses, and said, "Because I ^mdrew him out of the water." 11 Now it came about in those days, ⁸when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their ⁿ⁹hard labors ; and ¹⁰he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he ^olooked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he ¹¹struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 He went out ¹²the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were ^pfighting with each other; and he said to the ^qoffender, "Why are you striking your companion ?" 14 But he said, "¹³Who made you a ^rprince or a judge over us? Are you ^sintending 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 of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But ¹⁴Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and ^tsettled in the land of Midian, and he sat down ¹⁵by a well. 16 Now ¹⁶the priest of Midian had seven daughters ; and ¹⁷they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but ¹⁸Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. 18 When they came to ¹⁹Reuel their father, he said, "Why have you come back so soon today ?" 19 So they said, "An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock." 20 He said to his daughters, "Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind ? Invite him ^uto have something to eat." 21 ²⁰Moses was willing to dwell with the man, and he gave his daughter ²¹Zipporah to Moses. 22 Then she gave birth to ²²a son, and he named him ^vGershom, for he said, "I have been ²³a ^wsojourner 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 ²⁴sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and ²⁵their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. 24 So ²⁶God heard their groaning ; and God remembered ²⁷His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 ²⁸God saw the sons of Israel, and God ^xtook notice of them.