The Birth of Moses

1 And a man of the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and she saw that he was good, and hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she took a basket of reeds, and coated it with bitumen and pitch, and laid the child in it, and set it in the river at the edge of the stream. 4 And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to find out what would be done to him. 5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her young women walked along the river's bank; and she saw the basket among the reeds, and reached out her arm and took it. 6 And she opened it and saw the child; and look, the baby was crying. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the children of the Jews. 7 Then his sister said to the daughter of Pharaoh, Shall I go and call a nurse from the Jews who will nurse the child for you? 8 And the daughter of Pharaoh said to her, Go; and the girl went and called the child's mother. 9 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay you your wages. And the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, and she named him Moses, saying, Because I drew him out of the water.

Moses Flees to Midian

11 And in those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their servitude. And he saw an Egyptian man striking a man, a Jew, one of his brothers. 12 And he looked this way and that, and saw that there was no one; and he struck down the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. 13 And he went out the next day, and look, two Jewish men were fighting. And he said to the one in the wrong, Why are you striking your companion? 14 But he said, Who made you a ruler and a 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. 15 And Pharaoh heard of this, and sought to kill Moses; and Moses fled from Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well; 16 and the chief of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 But the shepherds came and drove them away; and Moses got up and rescued them, and watered the flock. 18 And they came to Reuel their father; and he said, Why have you come back so soon today? 19 And they said, A man, an Egyptian, rescued us from the shepherds, and also drew water for us and watered the flock. 20 And he said to his daughters, And where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, so that he may eat bread. 21 And Moses agreed to live with the man; and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 22 And she gave birth to a son; and he named him Gershom; for he said, I am a stranger in a foreign land. 23 And after many days the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned under the hard service that was upon them; and their cry from their labor went up before the Lord. 24 And their appeal was heard before the Lord;⁠a and the Lord remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And the servitude of the sons of Israel was known before the Lord, and the Lord said in His Memra, that He would deliver them.⁠b