1 And there goes a man of the house of Levi, and he takes the daughter of Levi, 2 and the woman conceives, and bears a son, and she sees him, that he [is] beautiful, and she hides him [for] three months, 3 and she has not been able to hide him anymore, and she takes an ark of rushes for him, and covers it with bitumen and with pitch, and puts the boy in it, and puts [it] in the weeds by the edge of the River; 4 and his sister stations herself far off, to know what is done to him. 5 And a daughter of Pharaoh comes down to bathe at the River, and her girls are walking by the side of the River, and she sees the ark in the midst of the weeds, and sends her handmaid, and she takes it, 6 and opens, and sees him—the boy, and behold, a child weeping! And she has pity on him and says, “This is [one] of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 And his sister says to the daughter of Pharaoh, “Do I go? When I have called a suckling woman of the Hebrews for you, then she suckles the boy for you”; 8 and the daughter of Pharaoh says to her, “Go”; and the virgin goes, and calls the mother of the boy, 9 and the daughter of Pharaoh says to her, “Take this boy away, and suckle him for me, and I give your hire”; and the woman takes the boy, and suckles him. 10 And the boy grows, and she brings him to the daughter of Pharaoh, and he is to her for a son, and she calls his name Moses, and says, “Because I have drawn him from the water.” 11 And it comes to pass, in those days, that Moses is grown, and he goes out to his brothers, and looks on their burdens, and sees a man, an Egyptian, striking a man, a Hebrew, [one] of his brothers, 12 and he turns here and there, and sees that there is no man, and strikes the Egyptian, and hides him in the sand. 13 And he goes out on the second day, and behold, two men, Hebrews, are striving, and he says to the wrongdoer, “Why do you strike your neighbor?” 14 And he says, “Who set you for a head and judge over us? Are you saying [it] to slay me as you have slain the Egyptian?” And Moses fears and says, “Surely the thing has been known.” 15 And Pharaoh hears of this thing, and seeks to slay Moses, and Moses flees from the face of Pharaoh, and dwells in the land of Midian, and dwells by the well. 16 And to a priest of Midian [are] seven daughters, and they come and draw, and fill the troughs to water the flock of their father, 17 and the shepherds come and drive them away, and Moses arises, and saves them, and waters their flock. 18 And they come to their father Reuel, and he says, “Why have you hurried to come in today?” 19 And they say, “A man, an Egyptian, has delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and has also diligently drawn for us, and waters the flock”; 20 and he says to his daughters, “And where [is] he? Why [is] this [that] you left the man? Call for him, and he eats bread.” 21 And Moses is willing to dwell with the man, and he gives his daughter Zipporah to Moses, 22 and she bears a son, and he calls his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a strange land.” 23 And it comes to pass during these many days, that the king of Egypt dies, and the sons of Israel sigh because of the service, and cry, and their cry goes up to God, because of the service; 24 and God hears their groaning, and God remembers His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; 25 and God sees the sons of Israel, and God knows.
Exodus · Literal Standard Version
Exodus 2 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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
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)