Exodus
Chapter 2
1 A man from Levi’s family went and married a woman from Levi’s family.
2 The woman became pregnant and had a baby boy. When she saw he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.
3 When she couldn’t hide her baby anymore, she made a basket from reeds, sealed it with tar and pitch, placed her child inside, and set it among the plants by the river’s edge.
4 His sister stood far away, to see what would happen to him.
5 Pharaoh’s daughter went to bathe in the river; her attendants walked beside the river; when she saw the basket in the reeds, she sent her servant to get it.
6 When she opened it, she saw the baby crying, and she felt sorry for him, saying, “This is one of the Hebrew babies.”
7 His sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?”
8 The princess told her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the baby’s mother.
9 Pharaoh’s daughter told her, “Take this baby and care for him for me, and I will pay you.” So, the woman took the baby and cared for him.
10 The child grew up, and she took him to the Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I pulled him out of the water.”
11 In those days, when Moses was older, he went to his people and saw their hard work. He saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew, one of his own people.
12 He looked around, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
13 On the second day he went out, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. He asked the one who was in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your companion?”
14 He asked, “Who made you our leader and judge? Do you plan to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was scared and thought, “Everyone must know about it.”
15 When the king heard about this, he wanted to kill Moses. But Moses ran away from the king and lived in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
16 The priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water, filling the troughs to water their father’s sheep.
17 The shepherds arrived and chased them off, but Moses got up, helped the women, and gave their sheep water.
18 When they returned to their father Reuel, he asked, “Why have you come back so early today?”
19 They said, an Egyptian saved us from the shepherds and also got plenty of water for us, and gave it to the sheep.
20 He asked his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat bread with us.”
21 Moses was happy to live with the man and the man gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses as his wife.
22 She gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, saying, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.”
23 Over time, the king of Egypt died; the Israelites groaned because they were slaves, they cried out, and their cries reached God because of their slavery.
24 God heard their cries, and God remembered his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
25 God saw the Israelites and cared for them.