Exodus 2

1A man from the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.

2The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was good, she hid him for three months.

3But when she could no longer hide him, she took for him a papyrus basket and coated it with bitumen and pitch. Then she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

4And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him.

5Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile, while her young women were walking along the bank of the Nile. She saw the basket in the midst of the reeds, and she sent her servant girl and took it.

6She opened it and saw him, the child, and behold, a boy was crying. She had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nursing woman from the Hebrew women for you, so that she may nurse the child for you?”

8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the young woman went and called the child’s mother.

9Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.

10When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, for she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

11It happened 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, one of his brothers.

12He looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one there, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

13He went out the next day, and behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. And he said to the wicked one, “Why are you striking your companion?”

14But he said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Are you saying, ‘Will you kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known.”

15When Pharaoh heard this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian, and he sat down by the well.

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

17Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock.

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

19They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us from the hand of the shepherds, and he even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

20And he said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why is it that you left the man? Call him, so that he may eat bread.”

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

22She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

23It happened in those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel groaned because of the slavery and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God because of the slavery.

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

25God saw the sons of Israel, and God knew.