The Birth and Adoption of Moses
And a man from the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi.
And the woman conceived and bore a son; and she saw that he was good, and she hid him three months.
And when she could hide him no longer, she took for him an ark of papyrus, and coated it with tar and with pitch; and she put the child in it, and set it among the reeds at the edge of the Nile.
And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to know what would be done to him.
And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe at the Nile, while her young women walked along the bank of the Nile. And she saw the ark among the reeds, and sent her maidservant, and she took it.
And she opened it and saw him — the child — and look, a boy, crying. And she took pity on him and said, “This is one of the children of the Hebrews.”
And his sister said to the daughter of Pharaoh, “Shall I go and call for you a nursing woman from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse the child for you?”
And the daughter of Pharaoh said to her, “Go.” And the girl went and called the child’s mother.
And the daughter of Pharaoh said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I myself will give you your wages.” And the woman took the child and nursed him.
And the child grew, and she brought him to the daughter of Pharaoh, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
The Rejection and Flight of Moses
And it happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, one of his brothers.
And he turned this way and that, and saw that there was no one; and he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
And he went out on the second day, and look — two Hebrew men fighting. And he said to the one in the wrong, “Why do you strike your neighbor?”
And he said, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses was afraid, and said, “Surely the thing is known.”
And Pharaoh heard of this thing and sought to kill Moses. And Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and settled in the land of Midian; and he sat down by the well.
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
And the shepherds came and drove them away; and Moses rose up and saved them, and watered their flock.
And they came to Reuel their father, and he said, “Why have you come back so quickly today?”
And they said, “An Egyptian man delivered us from the hand of the shepherds — and he even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
And he said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man behind? Call him, and let him eat bread.”
And Moses was willing to stay with the man; and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.
And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
God Hears the Cry of the Israelites
And it happened in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned from the labor, and cried out; and their cry for help went up to God from the labor.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
And God saw the sons of Israel — and God knew.