Birth and Adoption of Moses. 1Now a man* of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,a 2and the woman conceived and bore a son. Seeing what a fine child he was, she hid him for three months.b 3But when she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket,* daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile. 4His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

5Then Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the Nile, while her attendants walked along the bank of the Nile. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it. 6On opening it, she looked, and there was a baby boy crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, “It is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and summon a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for you?” 8Pharaoh’s daughter answered her, “Go.” So the young woman went and called the child’s own mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.”* So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10When the child grew,* she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.c She named him Moses; for she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Moses’ Flight to Midian. 11d On one occasion, after Moses had grown up,* when he had gone out to his kinsmen and witnessed their forced labor, he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own kinsmen. 12Looking about and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13The next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So he asked the culprit, “Why are you striking your companion?” 14But he replied, “Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became afraid and thought, “The affair must certainly be known.” 15When Pharaoh heard of the affair, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to the land of Midian.* e There he sat down by a well.

16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17But shepherds came and drove them away. So Moses rose up in their defense and watered their flock. 18When they returned to their father Reuel,* he said to them, “How is it you have returned so soon today?” 19They answered, “An Egyptian* delivered us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock!” 20“Where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why did you leave the man there? Invite him to have something to eat.” 21Moses agreed to stay with him, and the man gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage. 22She conceived and bore a son, whom he named Gershom;* for he said, “I am a stranger residing in a foreign land.”f

II. The Call and Commission of Moses

The Burning Bush. 23A long time passed, during which the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their bondage and cried out, and from their bondage their cry for help went up to God.g 24God heard their moaning and God was mindful of his covenanth with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 25God saw the Israelites, and God knew….*