Exodus 2 | King James Version

King James Version

1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child , she hid him three months. 3 And 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' brink. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. 5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river' side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6 And 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. 7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh' daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? 8 And Pharaoh' daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child' mother. 9 And Pharaoh' 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. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh' daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. 11 And 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. 12 And 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. 13 And 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? 14 And 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. 15 Now 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. 16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water , and filled the troughs to water their father' flock. 17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day? 19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. 20 And 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. 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. 22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. 23 And 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. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them .

New International Reader’s Version

Moses is born

1 A man and a woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 She became pregnant and had a son by her husband. She saw that her baby was a fine child. And she hid him for three months. 3 After that, she couldn’t hide him any longer. So she got a basket made out of the stems of tall grass. She coated the basket with tar. She placed the child in the basket. Then she put it in the tall grass that grew along the bank of the River Nile. 4 The child’s sister wasn’t very far away. She wanted to see what would happen to him. 5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the River Nile to take a bath. Her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket in the tall grass. So she sent her female slave to get it. 6 When she opened it, Pharaoh’s daughter saw the baby. He was crying. She felt sorry for him. ‘This is one of the Hebrew babies,’ she said. 7 Then his sister spoke to Pharaoh’s daughter. She asked, ‘Do you want me to go and get one of the Hebrew women? She could breast-feed the baby for you.’ 8 ‘Yes. Go,’ she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this baby and feed him for me. I’ll pay you.’ So the woman took the baby and fed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter. And he became her son. She named him Moses. She said, ‘I pulled him out of the water.’

Moses escapes to Midian

11 Moses grew up. One day, he went out to where his own people were. He watched them while they were hard at work. He saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew man. The man was one of Moses’ own people. 12 Moses looked around and didn’t see anyone. So he killed the Egyptian. Then he hid his body in the sand. 13 The next day Moses went out again. He saw two Hebrew men fighting. He asked the one who had started the fight a question. He said, ‘Why are you hitting another Hebrew man?’ 14 The man said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking about killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses became afraid. He thought, ‘People must have heard about what I did.’ 15 When Pharaoh heard about what had happened, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses escaped from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian. There he sat down by a well. 16 A priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to fill the stone tubs with water. They wanted to give water to their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and chased the girls away. But Moses got up and helped them. Then he gave water to their flock. 18 The girls returned to their father Reuel. He asked them, ‘Why have you returned so early today?’ 19 They answered, ‘An Egyptian saved us from the shepherds. He even got water for us and gave it to the flock.’ 20 ‘Where is he?’ Reuel asked his daughters. ‘Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.’ 21 Moses agreed to stay with the man. And the man gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses to be his wife. 22 Zipporah had a son by him. Moses named him Gershom. That’s because Moses said, ‘I’m an outsider in a strange land.’ 23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The people of Israel groaned because they were slaves. They also cried out to God. Their cry for help went up to him. 24 God heard their groans. He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites with concern for them.