Exodus 2

¹And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi.

²The woman conceived and bore a son; and she saw him, that he was good, and she hid him three months.

³And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of reeds and daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and she placed the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile.

⁴His sister stationed herself at a distance, to know what would be done to him.

⁵And Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the Nile, and her maidens were walking along the bank of the Nile, and she saw the ark in the midst of the reeds and sent her maidservant and took it.

⁶And she opened it and saw him, the child — and look, a boy weeping! And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the children of the Hebrews.

⁷And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call for you a nursing woman from the Hebrews, that she may nurse the child for you?

⁸And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maiden went and called the mother of the child.

⁹And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will give your wages. And the woman took the child and nursed him.

¹⁰And the child grew up, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became a son to her, and she called his name Moses, and she said, For I drew him from the water.

¹¹And it came to pass in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man from among his brothers.

¹²And he turned this way and that, and he saw that there was no man; and he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³And he went out on the second day, and look — two Hebrew men were striving; and he said to the wicked one, Why do you strike your neighbor?

¹⁴And he said, Who set you as a man, a ruler and a judge, over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, Surely the thing has become known.

¹⁵And Pharaoh heard this thing and sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from before Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by the well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

¹⁷And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses arose and saved them and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they came to Reuel their father, he said: Why have you come so quickly today?

¹⁹And they said: An Egyptian man rescued us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew water — he drew for us and watered the flock.

²⁰He said to his daughters: And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.

²¹And Moses consented to dwell with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.

²²She bore a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said: I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

²³And it came to pass in those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel groaned from the labor and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God from the labor.

²⁴God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

²⁵And God saw the children of Israel, and God knew.