1 There was a man descended from Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife.
2 She conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine child he was, she kept him hidden for three months.
3 When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the River’s edge.
4 His sister took up position some distance away to see what would happen to him.
5 Now Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, while her maids walked along the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it.
6 She opened it and saw the child: the baby was crying. Feeling sorry for it, she said, ‘This is one of the little Hebrews.’
7 The child’s sister then said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’
8 ‘Yes,’ said Pharaoh’s daughter, and the girl went and called the child’s own mother.
9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child away and nurse it for me. I shall pay you myself for doing so.’ So the woman took the child away and nursed it.
10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who treated him like a son; she named him Moses ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
11 It happened one day, when Moses was grown up, that he went to see his kinsmen. While he was watching their forced labour he also saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen.
12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one in sight, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
13 On the following day he came back, and there were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, ‘What do you mean by hitting your kinsman?’
14 ‘And who appointed you’, the man retorted, ‘to be prince over us and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Moses was frightened. ‘Clearly that business has come to light,’ he thought.
15 When Pharaoh heard of the matter, he tried to put Moses to death, but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He went into Midianite territory and sat down beside a well.
16 Now there was a priest of Midian with seven daughters. They used to come to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.
17 Some shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses sprang to their help and watered their flock.
18 When they returned to their father Reuel, he said to them, ‘Why are you back so early today?’
19 ‘An Egyptian protected us from the shepherds,’ they said, ‘and he even drew water for us and watered the flock.’
20 ‘And where is he?’ he asked his daughters. ‘Why did you leave the man there? Ask him to eat with us.’
21 Moses agreed to stay on there with the man, who gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage.
22 She gave birth to a son, whom he named Gershom ‘because’, he said, ‘I am an alien in a foreign land.’
23 During this long period the king of Egypt died. The Israelites, groaning in their slavery, cried out for help and from the depths of their slavery their cry came up to God.
24 God heard their groaning; God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
25 God saw the Israelites and took note.
A Brief Summary of Exodus Chapter 2
In this chapter, we are introduced to the birth of Moses, a significant figure in the Bible. Moses is born into a Levite family during a time when the Pharaoh of Egypt had ordered all Hebrew baby boys to be killed. His mother, seeing how special he was, hides him for three months. When she can no longer conceal him, she places him in a papyrus basket coated with pitch and sets it among the reeds along the riverbank. Moses’ sister watches from a distance to see what happens to him.
Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the basket while bathing in the river and, moved by the baby’s cries, recognizes that he is a Hebrew child. Moses’ sister cleverly offers to find a Hebrew nurse for the baby, and Pharaoh’s daughter agrees. The nurse she finds is, in fact, Moses’ own mother, who is paid to care for him until he grows older. Once he is weaned, he is brought to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopts him and names him Moses, meaning “drawn out of the water.”
When Moses grows up, he witnesses the harsh treatment of his fellow Hebrews and sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. In anger, Moses kills the Egyptian and hides the body. The next day, when he tries to intervene in a fight between two Hebrews, one of them questions his authority, referencing the murder. Realizing that his actions are known, Moses becomes afraid. When Pharaoh hears about it, he seeks to kill Moses, forcing him to flee to the land of Midian.
In Midian, Moses helps the seven daughters of a priest named Reuel (also known as Jethro) by defending them from shepherds and watering their flock. Grateful for his help, Reuel invites Moses to stay with them, and eventually, Moses marries one of his daughters, Zipporah. Together they have a son, whom Moses names Gershom, meaning “I am an alien in a foreign land.”
During this time, the king of Egypt dies, and the Israelites, still suffering under brutal slavery, cry out to God for deliverance. God hears their cries, remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and takes notice of the Israelites’ plight, setting the stage for the events to come.
This chapter introduces Moses’ early life, his compassion for his people, and the beginnings of his journey to becoming a leader who would deliver the Israelites from slavery.