2 A man from the household 2 of Levi married 3 a woman who was a descendant of Levi. 4 2 The woman became pregnant 5 and gave birth to a son. When 6 she saw that 7 he was a healthy 8 child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket 9 for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile. 10 4 His sister stationed herself 11 at a distance to find out 12 what would 13 happen to him.
5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh 14 came down to wash herself 15 by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, 16 and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, 17 took it, 18 6 opened it, 19 and saw the child 20 – a boy, 21 crying! 22 – and she felt compassion 23 for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get 24 a nursing woman 25 for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse 26 the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes, do so.” 27 So the young girl 28 went and got 29 the child’s mother. 30 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child 31 and nurse him for me, and I will pay your 32 wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
10 When the child grew older 33 she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. 34 She named him Moses, saying, “Because I drew him from the water.” 35
11 In those days, 37 when 38 Moses had grown up, he went out to his people 39 and observed 40 their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking 41 a Hebrew man, one of his own people. 42 12 He looked this way and that 43 and saw that no one was there, 44 and then he attacked 45 the Egyptian and concealed the body 46 in the sand. 13 When he went out 47 the next day, 48 there were 49 two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong, 50 “Why are you attacking 51 your fellow Hebrew?” 52
14 The man 53 replied, “Who made you a ruler 54 and a judge over us? Are you planning 55 to kill me like you killed that 56 Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking, 57 “Surely what I did 58 has become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard 59 about this event, 60 he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled 61 from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, 62 and he settled 63 by a certain well. 64
16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw 65 water 66 and fill 67 the troughs in order to water their father’s flock. 17 When some 68 shepherds came and drove them away, 69 Moses came up and defended them 70 and then watered their flock. 18 So when they came home 71 to their father Reuel, 72 he asked, “Why have you come home so early 73 today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us 74 from the shepherds, 75 and he actually 76 drew water for us and watered the flock!” 20 He said 77 to his daughters, “So where is he? 78 Why in the world 79 did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat 80 a meal 81 with us.”
21 Moses agreed 82 to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 83 22 When she bore 84 a son, Moses 85 named him Gershom, for he said, “I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land.” 86
23 During 88 that long period of time 89 the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites 90 groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry 91 because of their slave labor went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning, 92 God remembered 93 his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, 25 God saw 94 the Israelites, and God understood…. 95
3 Now Moses 1 was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert 2 and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 3 2 The angel of the Lord 4 appeared 5 to him in 6 a flame of fire from within a bush. 7 He looked 8 – and 9 the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! 10 3 So Moses thought, 11 “I will turn aside to see 12 this amazing 13 sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” 14 4 When the Lord 15 saw that 16 he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” 17 And Moses 18 said, “Here I am.” 5 God 19 said, “Do not approach any closer! 20 Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy 21 ground.” 22 6 He added, “I am the God of your father, 23 the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look 24 at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen 25 the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 26 8 I have come down 27 to deliver them 28 from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, 29 to a land flowing with milk and honey, 30 to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 31 9 And now indeed 32 the cry 33 of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. 34 10 So now go, and I will send you 35 to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses said 36 to God, 37 “Who am I, that I should go 38 to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He replied, 39 “Surely I will be with you, 40 and this will be the sign 41 to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve 42 God on this mountain.”
13 Moses said 43 to God, “If 44 I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ 45 – what should I say 46 to them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I am that I am.” 47 And he said, “You must say this 48 to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord 49 – the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you. This is my name 50 forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ 51
16 “Go and bring together 52 the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, 53 appeared 54 to me – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – saying, “I have attended carefully 55 to you and to what has been done 56 to you in Egypt, 17 and I have promised 57 that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, 58 to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
18 “The elders 59 will listen 60 to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met 61 with us. So now, let us go 62 three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice 63 to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, 64 not even under force. 65 20 So I will extend my hand 66 and strike Egypt with all my wonders 67 that I will do among them, and after that he will release you. 68
21 “I will grant this people favor with 69 the Egyptians, so that when 70 you depart you will not leave empty-handed. 22 Every 71 woman will ask her neighbor and the one who happens to be staying 72 in her house for items of silver and gold 73 and for clothing. You will put these articles on your sons and daughters – thus you will plunder Egypt!” 74
