New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Exodus 2
1
A man and a woman from the tribe of Levi got married.
Reference
Parallel theme
Numbers 26:59
2
She became pregnant and had a son by him. She saw that her baby was a fine child. So she hid him for three months.
Reference
3
After that, she couldn't hide him any longer. So she got a basket that was made out of the stems of tall grass. She coated it with tar. Then she placed the child in it. She put the basket in the tall grass that grew along the bank of the Nile River.
Reference
Parallel theme
Acts 7:19
Exodus 1:22
Genesis 6:14
Isaiah 18:2
Matthew 2:16
Matthew 2:13
Genesis 11:3
5
Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile River to take a bath. Her attendants were walking along the bank of the river. She saw the basket in the tall grass. So she sent her female slave to get it.
Reference
6
When she opened it, she saw the baby. He was crying. She felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.
Reference
7
Then his sister spoke to Pharaoh's daughter. She asked, "Do you want me to go and get one of the Hebrew women? She could nurse the baby for you."
Reference
9
Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby. Nurse him for me. I'll pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
10
When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter. And he became her son. She named him Moses. She said, "I pulled him out of the water."
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 16:11
1 Samuel 1:20
1 John 3:1
Matthew 1:21
Galatians 4:5
Genesis 48:5
Genesis 4:25
References Moses
Hebrews 11:24
11
Moses grew up. One day, he went out to where his own people were. He watched them while they were hard at work. He saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew man. The man was one of Moses' own people.
Reference
12
Moses looked around and didn't see anyone. So he killed the Egyptian. Then he hid his body in the sand.
13
The next day Moses went out again. He saw two Hebrew men fighting. He asked the one who had started the fight a question. He said, "Why are you hitting another Hebrew man?"
14
The man said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking about killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses became afraid. He thought, "People must have heard about what I did."
Reference
Judgment
Luke 12:14
Proverbs 19:12
Genesis 19:9
Acts 7:35
Parallel theme
Matthew 21:23
Luke 19:14
Genesis 13:8
Numbers 16:13
References Moses
Numbers 16:3
15
When Pharaoh heard about what had happened, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses escaped from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian. There he sat down by a well.
Reference
Parallel theme
Hebrews 11:27
Genesis 24:11
Genesis 29:2
Proverbs 22:3
Matthew 10:23
John 4:6
Genesis 25:4
References Moses
Acts 7:29
Exodus 4:19
16
A priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to fill the stone tubs with water. They wanted to give water to their father's flock.
Reference
17
Some shepherds came along and drove the women away. But Moses got up and helped them. Then he gave water to their flock.
Reference
18
The young women returned to their father Reuel. He asked them, "Why have you returned so early today?"
Reference
People
19
They answered, "An Egyptian saved us from the shepherds. He even got water for us and gave it to the flock."
Reference
20
"Where is he?" he asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat."
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 31:54
Genesis 43:25
Hebrews 13:2
Job 31:32
Job 42:11
1 Timothy 5:10
Genesis 18:5
21
Moses agreed to stay with the man. And the man gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses to be his wife.
Reference
22
Zipporah had a son by him. Moses named him Gershom. Moses said, "I'm an outsider in a strange land."
Reference
People
Parallel theme
Acts 7:29
Exodus 22:21
Psalm 119:19
1 Chronicles 29:15
1 Chronicles 16:20
Psalm 39:12
23
After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The people of Israel groaned because they were slaves. They also cried out to God. Their cry for help went up to him.
Reference
Parallel theme
James 5:4
Acts 7:30
Psalm 12:5
Genesis 16:11
Genesis 4:10
Deuteronomy 24:15
References Egypt
Nehemiah 9:9
Isaiah 19:20
Exodus 4:19
References God
Psalm 18:6
24
God heard their groans. He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Reference
Covenant
Psalm 105:42
Exodus 6:5
Psalm 106:45
Genesis 17:7
Parallel theme
Psalm 102:20
Psalm 22:24
Psalm 138:3
Psalm 22:5
References Abraham
Genesis 26:3
References God
Genesis 26:24
25
So God looked on the Israelites with favor. He was concerned about them.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 55:22
Luke 1:25
2 Samuel 16:12
Matthew 7:23
Job 33:27
1 Samuel 1:11
References God
Psalm 1:6
References Israel
Exodus 4:31
Chapter Summary
The chapter opens on the marriage of a member of the tribe of Levi to a Levitical woman, with no specific names given. As the wife becomes pregnant and delivers a son, the threat introduced in the closing announcement of the previous chapter becomes a very real possibility. She determines that he is a fine child and that she must find some way to protect him, and she manages to hide him for three months, keeping the infant's existence a secret from the soldiers who were looking for Hebrew children to kill.
When she is no longer able to safely keep her son, she comes up with a plan. She makes a basket of papyrus reeds, tarred and pitched on the outside, which she places among the rushes growing along the riverbank. With his infant cries muffled by the coarse reeds, the baby is placed in the basket and left to float down the river, an act of faith on the part of his mother, who could have no illusions that the Pharaoh's men would simply turn the child over to her.
It is, however, not an entirely selfless act, for the mother has taken the precaution of having her sister watch from a distance to see if anyone comes to take the boy. The Pharaoh's daughter happens to be taking a midday bath when she spots the basket among the reeds, ordering her maid to pull it to shore, where she opens it and finds the baby inside, crying. She takes pity and has the child brought to her, and as she realizes he is a Hebrew, she determines to adopt the infant as her own, despite the fact that she is the daughter of the man who has ordered the massacre of the Hebrew children.
The sister, waiting in the reeds to see what will happen to her little brother, sees the Pharaoh's daughter and takes this as a sign that it is safe to approach. Once there, she is asked if she can find a nurse for the baby, and she goes to her mother, telling her what has happened. The woman's response is to send the girl back to the Pharaoh's daughter and bring the baby so that she may nurse him. Ironically, the Pharaoh's daughter has just hired this woman to nurse her child, so her doing so means paying this woman to nurse the baby whose life she has just saved.
As the child grows, his mother brings him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopts him as her son and names him Moses, explaining that she rescued him from the water. When he reaches adulthood, Moses is keenly aware of the fact that he is a Hebrew, despite the fact that he has been raised in the palace. One day as he walks past the labor camps, he witnesses an Egyptian being cruel to one of the slaves and deciding to take justice into his own hands. Looking around to make sure no one sees him, Moses kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand.
He soon discovers that his well-meaning but rash gesture has created problems, as the next day Moses goes to where the Israelites are working and sees two men fighting. When he demands that the one beating his opponent tell him why he is doing so, the man answers that Moses has made himself a judge over them, asking if he intends to kill him as readily as he killed the Egyptian. Moses realizes that word of his crime has gotten out, and he is in danger of being killed by the Egyptians.
When Pharaoh hears of the incident, he demands that Moses be brought to him so that he might be executed. Moses flees the city, making his way to the land of Midian, where he takes a seat by a well and waits until evening falls.
The priests of Midian have seven daughters who come to the well to water their father's sheep. The shepherds who have gathered there refuse to let the girls do so, but Moses takes pity on them and helps water the sheep. When the daughters return to the well the next day, finding that they can do so much more easily because no one has stopped them, Reuel asks them why they have returned so soon, and they explain what has happened, telling their father that an Egyptian rescued them from the shepherds.
Surprised that they left him alone, Reuel tells them to return and bring him so that he may eat with them, and they take this as an invitation for him to stay. Eventually, he marries one of his father's daughters, Zipporah, and has a son by her, naming him Gershom as a reminder that he is living in a foreign land, a stranger in a strange country.
The chapter closes on an ominous note as it returns to the Pharaoh who ordered Moses to be killed and who eventually dies. The Israelites, however, continue to suffer under his successor's reign and cry out to God for help. God hears their cries and remembers the covenant he has made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looks with compassion on the misery of the Israelites as they continue to suffer at the hands of the Egyptians and decides that it is time for them to be delivered from their bondage.
This final paragraph serves as a fitting end to a long chapter detailing the early years of Moses. By returning the focus to the plight of the Israelites and recalling how far they have come since first entering the land of Goshen, it reminds the reader that this story is not merely about one man and his journey from birth to becoming a shepherd in Midian. The closing paragraph indicates that God has been watching and will intervene in the suffering of the Israelites, using Moses as his instrument to deliver them from the cruel hands of the Egyptians.
When she is no longer able to safely keep her son, she comes up with a plan. She makes a basket of papyrus reeds, tarred and pitched on the outside, which she places among the rushes growing along the riverbank. With his infant cries muffled by the coarse reeds, the baby is placed in the basket and left to float down the river, an act of faith on the part of his mother, who could have no illusions that the Pharaoh's men would simply turn the child over to her.
It is, however, not an entirely selfless act, for the mother has taken the precaution of having her sister watch from a distance to see if anyone comes to take the boy. The Pharaoh's daughter happens to be taking a midday bath when she spots the basket among the reeds, ordering her maid to pull it to shore, where she opens it and finds the baby inside, crying. She takes pity and has the child brought to her, and as she realizes he is a Hebrew, she determines to adopt the infant as her own, despite the fact that she is the daughter of the man who has ordered the massacre of the Hebrew children.
The sister, waiting in the reeds to see what will happen to her little brother, sees the Pharaoh's daughter and takes this as a sign that it is safe to approach. Once there, she is asked if she can find a nurse for the baby, and she goes to her mother, telling her what has happened. The woman's response is to send the girl back to the Pharaoh's daughter and bring the baby so that she may nurse him. Ironically, the Pharaoh's daughter has just hired this woman to nurse her child, so her doing so means paying this woman to nurse the baby whose life she has just saved.
As the child grows, his mother brings him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopts him as her son and names him Moses, explaining that she rescued him from the water. When he reaches adulthood, Moses is keenly aware of the fact that he is a Hebrew, despite the fact that he has been raised in the palace. One day as he walks past the labor camps, he witnesses an Egyptian being cruel to one of the slaves and deciding to take justice into his own hands. Looking around to make sure no one sees him, Moses kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand.
He soon discovers that his well-meaning but rash gesture has created problems, as the next day Moses goes to where the Israelites are working and sees two men fighting. When he demands that the one beating his opponent tell him why he is doing so, the man answers that Moses has made himself a judge over them, asking if he intends to kill him as readily as he killed the Egyptian. Moses realizes that word of his crime has gotten out, and he is in danger of being killed by the Egyptians.
When Pharaoh hears of the incident, he demands that Moses be brought to him so that he might be executed. Moses flees the city, making his way to the land of Midian, where he takes a seat by a well and waits until evening falls.
The priests of Midian have seven daughters who come to the well to water their father's sheep. The shepherds who have gathered there refuse to let the girls do so, but Moses takes pity on them and helps water the sheep. When the daughters return to the well the next day, finding that they can do so much more easily because no one has stopped them, Reuel asks them why they have returned so soon, and they explain what has happened, telling their father that an Egyptian rescued them from the shepherds.
Surprised that they left him alone, Reuel tells them to return and bring him so that he may eat with them, and they take this as an invitation for him to stay. Eventually, he marries one of his father's daughters, Zipporah, and has a son by her, naming him Gershom as a reminder that he is living in a foreign land, a stranger in a strange country.
The chapter closes on an ominous note as it returns to the Pharaoh who ordered Moses to be killed and who eventually dies. The Israelites, however, continue to suffer under his successor's reign and cry out to God for help. God hears their cries and remembers the covenant he has made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looks with compassion on the misery of the Israelites as they continue to suffer at the hands of the Egyptians and decides that it is time for them to be delivered from their bondage.
This final paragraph serves as a fitting end to a long chapter detailing the early years of Moses. By returning the focus to the plight of the Israelites and recalling how far they have come since first entering the land of Goshen, it reminds the reader that this story is not merely about one man and his journey from birth to becoming a shepherd in Midian. The closing paragraph indicates that God has been watching and will intervene in the suffering of the Israelites, using Moses as his instrument to deliver them from the cruel hands of the Egyptians.