Exodus 2:11–25

¹¹And then^d in those days when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers, and he saw their forced labor,^e and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, one of his brothers.^{f 12}And he turned here and there, and he saw no one,^g and he struck the Egyptian, and he hid him in the sand. ¹³And he went out on the second day, and there were two Hebrew men fighting, and he said to the guilty one, “Why do you strike your neighbor?” ¹⁴And he said, “Who appointed you as a commander^h and a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses was afraid, and he said, “Surely the matter has become known.” ¹⁵And Pharaoh heard this matter, and he sought to kill Moses, and Moses fled from Pharaoh, and he lived in the land of Midian, and he lived at a certain well.ⁱ

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.^{j 17}And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. ¹⁸And they came to Reuel, their father, and he said, “Why have you come so quickly^k today?” ¹⁹And they said, “An Egyptian man delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” ²⁰And he said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why then^l have you left the man? Call him so that he can eat some food.”^{m 21}And Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. ²²And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom because he said, “I am an alien in a foreign land.”ⁿ

²³And then^o during those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites^p groaned because of the work, and they cried out, and their cry for help because of the work went up to God. ²⁴And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, ²⁵and God saw the Israelites,^q and God took notice.^r