The Presumption of the Deliverer

2:11 36 In those days,37 when38 Moses had grown up, he went out to his people39 and observed40 their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking41 a Hebrew man, one of his own people.42 2:12 He looked this way and that43 and saw that no one was there,44 and then he attacked45 the Egyptian and concealed the body46 in the sand. 2:13 When he went out47 the next day,48 there were49 two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong,50 “Why are you attacking51 your fellow Hebrew?”52

2:14 The man53 replied, “Who made you a ruler54 and a judge over us? Are you planning55 to kill me like you killed that56 Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking,57 “Surely what I did58 has become known.” 2:15 When Pharaoh heard59 about this event,60 he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled61 from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian,62 and he settled63 by a certain well.64

2:16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw65 water66 and fill67 the troughs in order to water their father’s flock. 2:17 When some68 shepherds came and drove them away,69 Moses came up and defended them70 and then watered their flock. 2:18 So when they came home71 to their father Reuel,72 he asked, “Why have you come home so early73 today?” 2:19 They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us74 from the shepherds,75 and he actually76 drew water for us and watered the flock!” 2:20 He said77 to his daughters, “So where is he?78 Why in the world79 did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat80 a meal81 with us.”

2:21 Moses agreed82 to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.83 2:22 When she bore84 a son, Moses85 named him Gershom, for he said, “I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land.”86