Unnamed person in the Old Testament
Daughter of Pharaoh
Pharaoh’s daughter: compassion for the child in the basket
Portrait: an AI-generated artistic interpretation, not evidence of how Daughter of Pharaoh looked.
Who Daughter of Pharaoh is
Pharaoh's daughter comes to the river to bathe and sees a basket among the reeds. She sends her maid to fetch it, opens it and has compassion on the crying child, recognizing him as Hebrew. When his sister offers to find a nurse, she agrees. She then asks the child's mother to nurse him and promises wages. Later the mother brings the growing child to her, and he becomes her son. She names him Moses, explaining the name by saying she drew him from the water.
Cited passages: Exodus 2:3, Exodus 2:4, Exodus 2:5, Exodus 2:6, Exodus 2:7, Exodus 2:8, Exodus 2:9, Exodus 2:10
Historical setting
This daughter of Pharaoh is unnamed in the passage. The guide does not identify her with a named princess or another royal daughter elsewhere. Her maid fetches the basket at her command; the account does not say the princess personally retrieves it. Her explanation of Moses' name is reported as her speech. The scene supplies neither a formal adoption procedure nor a date or age for his becoming her son.
Cited passages: Exodus 2:3, Exodus 2:4, Exodus 2:5, Exodus 2:6, Exodus 2:7, Exodus 2:8, Exodus 2:9, Exodus 2:10
How the story is told
The scene moves from seeing the basket to seeing and hearing the child. Compassion is explicitly stated, followed by decisions that provide nursing and a place for him as her son. The sister's intervention links the princess's request with the child's own mother. The naming closes the episode with the princess's interpretation of the rescue, without adding an account of Moses' later upbringing.
Cited passages: Exodus 2:3, Exodus 2:4, Exodus 2:5, Exodus 2:6, Exodus 2:7, Exodus 2:8, Exodus 2:9, Exodus 2:10
Story moments
- She recognizes the child and has compassion (Exodus 2:6). Pharaoh’s daughter sees the crying baby and identifies him as Hebrew.
- She arranges nursing and payment (Exodus 2:9). She asks the child’s mother to nurse him and promises wages.
- Moses becomes her son (Exodus 2:10). She receives the child and gives him the name Moses.
Key passages
Exodus 2:5
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
King James Version. 1 indexed passage in total.
For reflection
How does the passage move from the princess's compassion to concrete provision for the child?
Books Daughter of Pharaoh appears in
Related people
Names and references are adapted from STEPBible TIPNR. A person listed with a verse is named or indexed there; it does not mean they wrote or spoke it.