Exodus 2 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 It was around this time that a man from the tribe of Levi married a woman, also a Levite.
1 A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.
2 She became pregnant and had a son. She saw he was a lovely baby, and she hid him for three months.
2 The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.
3 But when she couldn't hide him anymore, she got a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put her baby in the basket and placed it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
3 When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.
4 His sister waited some distance away, keeping an eye on him.
4 His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.
5 Then Pharaoh's daughter arrived to bathe in the Nile. Her ladies-in-waiting were walking along the bank of the river. When she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it and bring it to her.
5 Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it.
6 When she opened it she saw the baby boy. He was crying and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew boys,” she said.
6 She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
7 His sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, “Would you like me to go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse him for you?”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
8 “Yes, go and do that,” she replied. So the girl went and called the baby's mother to come.
8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The young woman went and called the child’s mother.
9 “Take this baby boy and nurse him for me,” Pharaoh's daughter told his mother. “I will pay you myself.” So his mother took him home and nursed him.
9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child, and nursed him.
10 When the boy was older she took him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her son. She called him Moses, because she said, “I pulled him out of the water.”
10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
11 Later, when Moses had grown up, he went to visit his people, the Hebrews. He saw them doing hard labor. He also saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
11 In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.
12 He looked all around to make sure no one was watching, and then he killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand.
12 He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
13 The following day he went back and he saw two Hebrews fighting with each other. He said to the one at fault, “Why are you beating one of your own people?”
13 He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?”
14 “Who put you in charge to judge us?” the man replied. “Are you going to kill me like you did the Egyptian?” Moses became frightened at this, and said to himself, “People know what I've done!”
14 He said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid, and said, “Surely this thing is known.”
15 When Pharaoh found out, he tried to have Moses killed, but Moses ran away from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian. One day as he was sitting by a well,
15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
16 the Midianite priest's seven daughters came to fetch water to fill up the troughs so their father's flock could drink.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
17 Some shepherds arrived and chased them off, but Moses intervened and rescued them, and watered their flock.
17 The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
18 When they got home, their father Reuel asked them, “How did you get back so quickly today?”
18 When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, “How is it that you have returned so early today?”
19 “An Egyptian rescued us from some shepherds who attacked us,” they replied. “Then he even fetched water for us so the flock could drink.”
19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.”
20 “So where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “You didn't just leave him there, did you? Go and invite him to eat with us!”
20 He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who arranged for his daughter Zipporah to marry Moses.
21 Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.
22 She had a son, and Moses named him Gershom, for he said, “I'm an exile living in a foreign country.”
22 She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land.”
23 Years later, the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites were still groaning under their hard labor. Their cries for help because of their hardship reached God.
23 In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
24 God heard their groans, and recalled his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 God also looked sympathetically on the Israelites, and was concerned for them.
25 God saw the children of Israel, and God understood.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Gershom
Moses' firstborn son, born during his years of exile in the land of Midian.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2:22; Exodus 18:3
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Pharaoh's daughter
The unnamed daughter of Pharaoh who found the baby Moses in a papyrus basket on the Nile, had compassion on him, hired his own mother to nurse him, and adopted him as her son.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2:5–10
Zipporah
The Midianite daughter of Jethro who became Moses' wife in the wilderness.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2:16-22; Exodus 4:24-26; Exodus 18
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 26:59; Exodus 6:16–20; 1 Chronicles 23:12–14; 1 Chronicles 6:1–3
- 2 Hebrews 11:23; Acts 7:20
- 3 Exodus 1:22; Acts 7:19; Genesis 6:14; Isaiah 18:2; Matthew 2:16
- 4 Numbers 26:59; Exodus 15:20; Micah 6:4; Numbers 20:1; Numbers 12:1–15
- 5 Acts 7:21; Psalm 12:5; Psalm 9:9; Exodus 8:20; Psalm 46:1
- 6 1 Kings 8:50; 1 Peter 3:8; Acts 7:21; Nehemiah 1:11; Psalm 106:46
- 7 Exodus 2:4; Numbers 26:59; Numbers 12:1; Exodus 15:20
- 8 Isaiah 46:3–4; Psalm 27:10; Exodus 6:20; Ezekiel 16:8
- 10 Hebrews 11:24; Acts 7:21–22; Genesis 16:11; 1 Samuel 1:20; Matthew 1:21
- 11 Hebrews 11:24–26; Acts 7:22–24; Exodus 1:11; Matthew 11:28; Luke 4:18
- 12 Acts 7:24–26
- 13 Acts 7:26–28; 1 Corinthians 6:7–8
- 14 Luke 12:14; Matthew 21:23; Genesis 37:19–20; Psalm 2:2–6; Genesis 19:9
- 15 Hebrews 11:27; Acts 7:29; Genesis 24:11; Genesis 29:2; 1 Kings 19:1–3
- 16 Genesis 24:11; Exodus 3:1; 1 Samuel 9:11; Genesis 24:14–20; Genesis 29:6–10
- 17 Genesis 29:10; Genesis 21:25; Exodus 2:12; Genesis 26:15–22
- 18 Exodus 3:1; Numbers 10:29; Exodus 4:18; Exodus 18:1–12; Numbers 19:20
- 19 Genesis 29:10; Genesis 50:11
- 20 Genesis 31:54; Genesis 43:25; Genesis 18:5; Hebrews 13:2; Job 31:32
- 21 Genesis 31:38–40; Hebrews 13:5; 1 Timothy 6:6; Exodus 2:10; Exodus 18:2–6
- 22 Hebrews 11:13–14; Acts 7:29; Exodus 22:21; Psalm 119:19; Psalm 39:12
- 23 Genesis 18:20–21; James 5:4; Exodus 3:7–9; Acts 7:30; Exodus 22:22–27
- 24 Genesis 26:3; Psalm 105:42; Exodus 6:5; Genesis 15:14–18; Luke 1:72–73
- 25 Exodus 4:31; Psalm 55:22; Exodus 3:7–8; Luke 1:25; Psalm 1:6
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… saith: "The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife." Moses too, who was born of a Hebrew mother and was exposed, was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. There were not then indeed the same forms of law as now, but the choice …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
For with respect to the patriarch it is said, "I remembered my covenant with Abraham;" but here He saith not "the covenant," but how?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
That perhaps the early life of Moses was sinful; for he fled from Egypt, after slaying a man. The early life of Aaron also was such as would displease God; for he allowed a maddened and infatuated people to make an idol to worship; and an idol was made for God's people to worship.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)