Baby Moses floats
1A man from Levi’s [1] extended family of Levi married a woman from the same tribe. 2His wife got pregnant and gave birth to a boy. He was so beautiful that she decided to hide him for three months so he wouldn’t be killed. 3When she realized she couldn’t protect him this way any longer, she hatched a plan. She got a wicker basket [2] and sealed it with waterproofing tar. She put her baby in the basket. [3] Then she set the basket in the Nile River, anchored among the papyrus reeds by the riverbank.4His big sister positioned herself as lookout. She watched from a distance, to see what would happen to him.
Princess bathing in the Nile
5Pharaoh’s daughter came there to take a bath in the Nile. [4] While her servants waited and walked along the bank, the princess noticed the basket floating among the reeds. She sent her female slave to get it. 6When the princess looked inside, she saw the little boy, crying. Her heart melted with pity. She said, “He must be a Hebrew baby.”7By this time, the baby’s sister had made her way over to Pharaoh’s daughter. The girl asked, “Would you like me to find a Hebrew woman who could nurse the baby for you?”
8“Yes,” Pharaoh’s daughter said. So, the girl got the baby’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter told the Hebrew woman, “Take the baby and feed him. I’ll pay you for it.”
10When the boy grew up, his mother gave him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who claimed him as her son. She named him Moses. She gave him that name, she said, “Because I lifted him out of the water.” [5]
Moses murders an Egyptian
11After Moses grew into a man, [6] he took a walk out among his Hebrew people. He saw the kind of work they were doing. And he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrews—his relatives. 12He looked around to see if anyone else was there. When it looked clear, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.13The next day, Moses went out to see his people again. He found two of them fighting. He said to the one throwing the punches, “Hey, why are you hitting one of your own people?”
14The man shot back, “Who died and made you king? What are you going to do, kill me like you killed the Egyptian?” That’s when Moses realized his secret was out. He said, “If this guy knows, everyone’s going to know.”
Moses, a shepherd on the lam
15When Pharaoh heard what Moses did, he decided to give Moses a taste of his own medicine, and kill him. Moses fled. He traveled to Midian [7] and sat down beside a well. 16Midian’s priest had seven daughters. They brought their father’s flock to the well, and started filling the nearby water troughs, so their animals could drink.17But some other shepherds showed up and tried to chase them off. Moses stepped in and helped the women water their sheep. 18When the women got home to their father, Reuel, [8] he said, “That was fast. How’d you manage that?” 19They said, “There was an Egyptian man at the well. He stood up for us against the other shepherds. He helped us water our sheep.”
20Their father said, “Really? Where is he, then? Why did you leave him there? Go invite him to eat with us.” 21Moses later agreed to stay with the man and his family. Moses married one of Reuel’s daughters, Zipporah. 22She gave birth to their son. Moses named the boy Gershom. He said he did it because, “I’m a stranger in a foreign land.” [9]
