Exodus 2–14

2ND CHAPTER

Pharaoh’s Daughter Adopts Moses

¹A man from Levi’s family married a Levite woman. ²The woman became pregnant and had a son. She saw how beautiful he was and hid him for three months. ³When she couldn’t hide him any longer, she took a basket made of papyrus plants and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in it and set it among the papyrus plants near the bank of the Nile River. ⁴The baby’s sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 

⁵While Pharaoh’s daughter came to the Nile to take a bath, her servants walked along the bank of the river. She saw the basket among the papyrus plants and sent her slave girl to get it. ⁶Pharaoh’s daughter opened the basket, looked at the baby, and saw it was a boy. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. She said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.” 

⁷Then the baby’s sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 

⁸She answered, “Yes!” So the girl brought the baby’s mother. 

⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to the woman, “Take this child, nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” 

She took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰When the child was old enough, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. Pharaoh’s daughter named him Moses ^[Pulled Out^[ and said, “I pulled him out of the water.” 

Moses Commits Murder and Flees to Midian

¹¹In the course of time Moses grew up. Then he went to ⸤see⸥ his own people and watched them suffering under forced labor. He saw a Hebrew, one of his own people, being beaten by an Egyptian. ¹²He looked all around, and when he didn’t see anyone, he beat the Egyptian to death and hid the body in the sand. 

¹³When Moses went there the next day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. He asked the one who started the fight, “Why are you beating another Hebrew?” 

¹⁴The man asked, “Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought that everyone knew what he had done. 

¹⁵When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he tried to have him killed. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian. 

Moses Marries Zipporah

One day, while Moses was sitting by a well, ¹⁶seven daughters of the priest of Midian came. They drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s sheep. ¹⁷But some shepherds came and chased them away. So Moses got up, came to their defense, and then watered their sheep. 

¹⁸When they came back to their father Reuel, he asked them, “Why have you come home so early today?” 

¹⁹They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from some shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the sheep.” 

²⁰Reuel asked his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man there? Go, invite him to supper.” 

²¹Moses decided to stay with the man. So Reuel gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses as his wife. ²²She gave birth to a son. Moses named him Gershom ^[Foreigner^[, because he said, “I was a foreigner living in another country.” 

The Israelites Pray to God during Their Suffering

²³After a long time passed, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites still groaned because they were slaves. So they cried out, and their cries for help went up to God. ²⁴God heard their groaning, and he remembered his promise^ato Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵God saw the Israelites ⸤being oppressed⸥ and was concerned about them. 

3RD CHAPTER

Moses at the Burning Bush

¹Moses was taking care of the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. As he led the sheep to the far side of the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 

²The Messenger of the Lord appeared to him there as flames of fire coming out of a bush. Moses looked, and although the bush was on fire, it was not burning up. ³So he thought, “Why isn’t this bush burning up? I must go over there and see this strange sight.” 

⁴When the Lord saw that Moses had come over to see it, God called to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” 

Moses answered, “Here I am!” 

⁵God said, “Don’t come any closer! Take off your sandals because this place where you are standing is holy ground. ⁶I am the God of your ancestors,^athe God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. 

⁷The Lord said, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard them crying out because of the slave drivers. I know how much they’re suffering. ⁸I have come to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good land with plenty of room ⸤for everyone⸥. It is a land flowing with milk and honey where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. ⁹I have heard the cry of the people of Israel. I have seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰Now, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you can bring my people Israel out of Egypt.” 

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?” 

¹²God answered, “I will be with you. And this will be the proof that I sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.” 

¹³Then Moses replied to God, “Suppose I go to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?” 

¹⁴God answered Moses, “I Am Who I Am. This is what you must say to the people of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ” 

¹⁵Again God said to Moses, “This is what you must say to the people of Israel: The Lord God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever. This is my title throughout every generation. 

¹⁶“Go, assemble the leaders of Israel. Say to them, ‘The Lord God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me. He said, “I have paid close attention to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷I promise I will take you away from your misery in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ 

¹⁸“The leaders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the leaders must go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, even if he is forced to. ²⁰So I will use my power to strike Egypt. After all the miracles that I will do there, he will let you go. ²¹I will make the Egyptians kind to the people of Israel so that, when you leave, you will not leave empty-handed. 

²²“Every Hebrew woman should ask her Egyptian neighbor and any woman living in her home for silver and gold jewelry and for clothes. Put them on your sons and daughters. This way you will strip Egypt of its wealth.” 

4TH CHAPTER

¹“They will never believe me or listen to me!” Moses protested. “They will say, ‘The Lord didn’t appear to you.’ ” 

²Then the Lord asked him, “What’s that in your hand?” 

He answered, “A shepherd’s staff.” 

³The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” 

When Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran away from it. 

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out and grab the snake by its tail.” He reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a staff as he held it. ⁵⸤The Lord explained,⸥ “This is to convince the people that the Lord God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to you.” 

⁶The Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” So Moses did this, and when he took his hand out, it had a skin disease. It looked as ⸤flaky as⸥ snow. ⁷“Now put your hand back inside your shirt,” the Lord said. Moses put it back, and when he took it out this time, it was healthy again like the rest of his body. 

⁸⸤Then the Lord said,⸥ “If they won’t believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. ⁹But if they won’t believe these two miraculous signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground. The water you take from the Nile will turn into blood on the ground.” 

¹⁰Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I’m not a good speaker. I’ve never been a good speaker, and I’m not now, even though you’ve spoken to me. I speak slowly, and I become tongue-tied easily.” 

¹¹The Lord asked him, “Who gave humans their mouths? Who makes humans unable to talk or hear? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? It is I, the Lord! ¹²Now go, and I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” 

¹³But Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” 

¹⁴Then the Lord became angry with Moses and asked, “What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He’s already on his way to meet you, and he will be very glad to see you. ¹⁵You will speak to him and tell him what to say. I will help both of you speak, and I will teach you both what to do. ¹⁶Aaron will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and you will be like God. ¹⁷Take that shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to do the miraculous signs.” 

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro. Moses said to him, “Please let me go back to my own people in Egypt. I would like to see if they’re still alive.” 

Jethro said to Moses, “You may go.” 

¹⁹Now, the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” 

²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and started out for Egypt. He also brought with him the staff God had told him to take. 

²¹The Lord said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, see that you show Pharaoh all the amazing things that I have given you the power to do. But I will make him stubborn so that he will not let the people go. ²²Then tell Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. ²³I told you to let my son go so that he may worship me.…