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The Torah · Old Testament

Exodus 2

Moses is rescued, flees Egypt and settles in Midian

General context

A Levite woman hides her son for three months, then places him in a coated reed basket beside the river. His sister watches. Pharaoh's daughter finds the crying Hebrew child and has compassion on him. The sister brings his mother to nurse him for wages. When he grows, he becomes Pharaoh's daughter's son, and she names him Moses. As an adult, Moses sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, kills the Egyptian and hides him in the sand. The next day a Hebrew challenges his authority and mentions the killing. Moses is afraid; when Pharaoh seeks his death, he flees to Midian. At a well he helps seven daughters of the priest of Midian against shepherds and waters their flock. Their father Reuel invites him to eat. Moses stays, marries Zipporah and names their son Gershom, explaining that he has been a stranger in a foreign land. In time the king of Egypt dies, but Israel still groans under bondage. God hears, remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and looks upon the people.

Cited passages: Exodus 2:1, Exodus 2:2, Exodus 2:3, Exodus 2:4, Exodus 2:5, Exodus 2:6, Exodus 2:7, Exodus 2:8, Exodus 2:9, Exodus 2:10, Exodus 2:11, Exodus 2:12, Exodus 2:13, Exodus 2:14, Exodus 2:15, Exodus 2:16, Exodus 2:17, Exodus 2:18, Exodus 2:19, Exodus 2:20, Exodus 2:21, Exodus 2:22, Exodus 2:23, Exodus 2:24, Exodus 2:25

Exodus 2 (KJV)

1And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

3And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

4And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

5And 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.

6And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.

7Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.

9And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.

10And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

11And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

14And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

15Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a 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 stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

19And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

21And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

22And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

23And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

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

25And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The account moves from Egypt to Midian while Israel remains in bondage. Moses' parents are identified here as Levites; his sister and Pharaoh's daughter are not personally named in this chapter. The child is placed among reeds at the river's edge, rather than described as drifting downstream. Pharaoh's daughter recognizes him as Hebrew and arranges paid nursing before he becomes her son. The chapter does not supply a royal dynasty, an absolute date or Moses' adult age. At the Midian well, the daughters describe their helper to Reuel as an Egyptian; this is their identification of him, not a change in the narrator's account of his parentage. Reuel is named as their father, and Zipporah is the daughter who becomes Moses' wife. No further identification of Reuel is needed to follow this chapter.

Cited passages: Exodus 2:1, Exodus 2:3, Exodus 2:4, Exodus 2:6, Exodus 2:8, Exodus 2:9, Exodus 2:10, Exodus 2:11, Exodus 2:15, Exodus 2:16, Exodus 2:18, Exodus 2:19, Exodus 2:21, Exodus 2:23

Literary context

The story shifts from a vulnerable child helped by women to an adult who intervenes when others are being harmed. Those interventions have different outcomes: killing the Egyptian leads to fear and flight, while helping at the well leads to an invitation and a household in Midian. The chapter records the killing without offering a direct statement of God's approval. Naming marks two changes in Moses' circumstances: Pharaoh's daughter connects his name with drawing him from water, while Moses connects Gershom's name with his own experience as a stranger. The final verses widen the view from Moses' household to Israel's suffering. God's hearing, remembering and seeing end the chapter with divine attention to the people, but their release has not yet occurred.

Cited passages: Exodus 2:2, Exodus 2:4, Exodus 2:6, Exodus 2:7, Exodus 2:8, Exodus 2:9, Exodus 2:10, Exodus 2:11, Exodus 2:12, Exodus 2:14, Exodus 2:15, Exodus 2:17, Exodus 2:20, Exodus 2:21, Exodus 2:22, Exodus 2:23, Exodus 2:24, Exodus 2:25

Key moments

  1. Compassion beside the river (Exodus 2:6). Pharaoh's daughter recognizes a Hebrew child and has compassion when she sees him crying.
  2. Moses flees to Midian (Exodus 2:15). When Pharaoh seeks to kill Moses, he flees Egypt and settles in Midian.
  3. Help at the well (Exodus 2:17). Moses helps the priest's daughters when shepherds drive them away, and waters their flock.
  4. God hears the people (Exodus 2:24). God hears Israel's groaning and remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

For reflection

What changes when the chapter turns from Moses' life in Midian to the people still crying out under bondage?

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