Exodus 2:21

21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

Exodus 2:21 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
English Standard Version (ESV)
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.
New Living Translation (NLT)
21 Moses accepted the invitation, and he settled there with him. In time, Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife.
The Message Bible (MSG)
21 Moses agreed to settle down there with the man, who then gave his daughter Zipporah (Bird) to him for his wife.
American Standard Version (ASV)
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
21 Moses decided to stay with the man. So Reuel gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses as his wife.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses [in marriage].
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man. And the man gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses to be his wife.

Exodus 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 2:21

And Moses was content to dwell with the man
After he had been called and brought into the house, and had had some refreshment, and after some conversation had passed between them, and perhaps after some days' stay in Reuel's house; Reuel having observed his disposition and behaviour, and being delighted therewith, proposed to him to take up his residence with him, with which motion Moses was well pleased, and accepted of it:

and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter;
to be his wife. It is not to be supposed that this was done directly; though both Philo F21 and Josephus F23 intimate as if it was done at first meeting together; but it is not likely that Reuel would dispose of his daughter so suddenly to a stranger, though he might at once entertain an high opinion of him; nor would Moses marry a woman directly he had so slender an acquaintance with, so little knowledge of her disposition, endowments of mind and religion. The Targum of Jonathan says it was at the end of ten years; and indeed forty years after this a son of his seems to have been young, having not till then been circumcised, ( Exodus 4:22-26 ) . The author of the Life of Moses says F24, that he was seventy seven years of age when he married Zipporah, which was but three years before he returned to Egypt. This circumstance of Moses's marrying Reuel's daughter is confirmed by Artapanus F25 an Heathen historian; and also by Demetrius F26, and expressly calls her Sapphora, who he says was a daughter of Jother or Jethro; and likewise by Ezekiel the tragedian {a}.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 611.
F23 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 11. sect. 2.
F24 Chronicon Mosis, fol. 9. 1.
F25 Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.
F26 Ib. c. 29. p. 439.
F1 lb. c. 28.

Exodus 2:21 In-Context

19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Exodus 4:25; Exodus 18:2; Numbers 12:1
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