About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi
got married. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw
that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket
made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby
in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. The
baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to
him.
Soon
Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked
along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent
her maid to get it for her. When the princess opened it, she saw the baby.
The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the
Hebrew children,” she said.
Then
the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the
Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked.
“Yes,
do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother.
“Take
this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will
pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him.
Later,
when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who
adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she
explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”
Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to
visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to
work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was
watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.
The
next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men
fighting. “Why are you beating up your friend?” Moses said to the one who had
started the fight.
The
man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to
kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?”
Then
Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” And sure enough,
Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled
from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.
When
Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well. Now the priest of
Midian had seven daughters who came as usual to draw water and fill the water
troughs for their father’s flocks. But some other shepherds came and
chased them away. So Moses jumped up and rescued the girls from the shepherds.
Then he drew water for their flocks.
When
the girls returned to Reuel, their father, he asked, “Why are you back so soon
today?”
“An
Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they answered. “And then he drew water
for us and watered our flocks.”
“Then
where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave him there? Invite him to
come and eat with us.”
Moses
accepted the invitation, and he settled there with him. In time, Reuel gave
Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife. Later she gave birth to a son,
and Moses named him Gershom, for he explained, “I have been a foreigner
in a foreign land.”
Years
passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under
their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to
God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew
it was time to act.
~ Source : Exodus 2:1-25 [Holy Bible -NLT]
taken from https://www.biblegateway.com
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