Exodus 2:11–25

Moses in Midian

¹¹Years later, ^aafter Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people ^band observed their forced labor. ^cHe saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. ¹²Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand. ¹³The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your neighbor?” ^d

¹⁴“Who made you a leader and judge over us?” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

Then Moses became afraid and thought: What I did is certainly known. ¹⁵When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, ^eand sat down by a well. ^f

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian ^ghad seven daughters. They came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷Then some shepherds arrived and drove them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their flock. ¹⁸When they returned to their father Reuel ^hihe asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today?”

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

²⁰“So where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner.”

²¹Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah ^jto Moses in marriage. ²²She gave birth to a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, “I have been a foreigner ^kin a foreign land.” ^l

²³After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, and they cried out; ^mand their cry for help ascended to God because of the difficult labor. ²⁴So God heard their groaning, and He remembered ⁿHis covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^o25God saw the Israelites, and He took notice. ^p