2:1 NOW [Amram] a man of the house of Levi [the priestly tribe] went and took as his wife [Jochebed] a daughter of Levi. |
2:2 And the woman became pregnant and bore a son; and when she saw that he was [exceedingly] beautiful, she hid him three months. |
2:3 And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark {or} basket made of bulrushes {or} papyrus [making it watertight by] daubing it with bitumen and pitch. Then she put the child in it and laid it among the rushes by the brink of the river [Nile]. |
2:4 And his sister [Miriam] stood some distance away to learn what would be done to him. |
2:5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along the bank; she saw the ark among the rushes and sent her maid to fetch it. |
2:6 When she opened it, she saw the child; and behold, the baby cried. And she took pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children! |
2:7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? |
2:8 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and called the child's mother. |
2:9 Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed it. |
2:10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. And she called him Moses, for she said, Because I drew him out of the water. |
2:11 One day, after Moses was grown, it happened that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of [Moses'] brethren. |
2:12 He looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. |
2:13 He went out the second day and saw two Hebrew men quarreling {and} fighting; and he said to the unjust aggressor, Why are you striking your comrade? |
2:14 And the man said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought, Surely this thing is known. |
2:15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh's presence and took refuge in the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well. |
2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. |
2:17 The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. |
2:18 And when they came to Reuel [Jethro] their father, he said, How is it that you have come so soon today? |
2:19 They said, An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds; also he drew water for us and watered the flock. |
2:20 He said to his daughters, Where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread. |
2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. |
2:22 And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom [expulsion, or a stranger there]; for he said, I have been a stranger {and} a sojourner in a foreign land. |
2:23 However, after a long time [nearly forty years] the king of Egypt died; and the Israelites were sighing {and} groaning because of the bondage. They kept crying, and their cry because of slavery ascended to God. |
2:24 And God heard their sighing {and} groaning and [earnestly] remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. |
2:25 God saw the Israelites and took knowledge of them {and} concerned Himself about them [knowing all, understanding, remembering all]. |